Higurashi: Uchuu no Tabibito
by Brandon Payne
Summary: [When They Cry: Traveler of Universes] An American hiker named Axel Sawyer finds himself on an unexpected adventure.
1. Prologue

It is evening over Japan as layers of light and dark grey clouds cover the sky. Out in the mountainous countryside and along a section of highway walks an American named Axel Sawyer. He is twenty-three years old, Caucasian, and very tall with fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. He wears a long-sleeved grey denim western shirt with snap buttons, a digital wristwatch, blue jeans belted snugly around his waist, and dark blue sneakers. He is carrying a green knapsack on his back.

He has been here for three days, but it is two since he began his hike; already he is along a more isolated stretch of the nation. Long before coming to Japan, he had been planning to hike around the country, and that meant learning the language and lettering.

It was during those past two days and nights the sky was clear and he was even able to sleep outside at one point. And now that possibility looms before him once again, even if those clouds threaten rain as Axel frowns up at them. Despite having rain gear in his knapsack.

Alongside the highway runs a chain-linked fence with barbed wire atop it that encloses forested land. Posted at intervals upon that fence are signs in Kanji.

 _WARNING. BIOHAZARD. DO NOT ENTER._

This makes him wonder uneasily about diseases.

He encounters a pair of closed gates upon that fence, secured with several steel bars running horizontally the full length of the gates from top to bottom. Beyond them is a paved road, cracked and pitted with tufts of grass and flowers growing up through it in various places as it leads off into the thick forest. Axel glances between that abandoned road and up at the sky, wondering if it is worth it.

A distant rumble of thunder forces his decision as he briskly walks toward that fence. He tucks his pant legs into his socks and begins climbing. Once near the top, he awkwardly removes his knapsack and manages to position it across the top upon the barbed wire, then slowly crawls over it. The pain of the metal upon his bare fingers from supporting his weight begins to increase.

Upon straddling the fence, his right side facing in, he reaches down the other side to firmly clasp the edge just underneath the barb wire. He takes a deep breath to psyche himself up and pushes himself up using only his right hand, increasing the pain more. He uses his left hand to lift his knapsack carefully so as not to snag it on the barbs so that it falls inside. He clasps the fence edge underneath with his left once again, though placing it inside the fence so as to take the weight off his right. He quickly repositions his right hand so that his wrist faces inside.

With both hands inside the fence and wrists facing inward, he lifts his left leg inside and finally lets his lower half drop so that he can climb down the fence. A punishing thing to do, since the pain in his fingers is now almost unbearable.

Axel's feet are finally near the ground and he lets go while pushing himself away to land. He sighs with relief through clenched teeth while staring at his fingers and flexing them.

He picks up his knapsack and runs up the road, wary of a vehicle driving by. The road soon climbs upward as is the norm for roads throughout Japan. Since the archipelago nation is more like a mountain range protruding up out of the Pacific rather than being merely mountainous islands.

Axel continues his trek down that road. The day grows increasingly late and the sunset comes, casting red and orange across the horizon through the layered clouds. The wind picks up, a cool one given this warm muggy evening, meaning that a thunderstorm is coming. Another rumble of thunder is heard, this one a little closer now.

He crests a hilltop and finds himself looking over a valley with a river running nearby. He can see a village in the distance. Figuring that it will be night time by the time he reaches that place, he removes his knapsack and searches inside it. He takes out a flashlight and puts his knapsack back on to continue walking.

The twilight gets increasingly darker and he has yet to reach the edge of that village. He looks up at the sky every now and again whenever a flash of sheet lighting is briefly seen, to be followed by a rumble of thunder. It soon becomes dark to the point that he has to turn on his flashlight.

It is fully night by the time he reaches the outskirts of the village. The heady smell of rain is now strong. He checks his watch to see that it is almost ten o'clock. Axel notices the lack of lights around the village. He walks upon a short bridge and notices a large building next to him. A blue ribbon of lightening suddenly appears as it seems to split the sky, casting a quick light over everything. Thunder roars loudly across the landscape a second later, echoing off the mountains. Within that brief brightness, he had seen that the building is a watermill.

Axel continues walking. He encounters cars with more rust than paint, and flat tires. More lightening reveals decrepit buildings, along with grass and other plants having grown long and wild. The village looks to have been abandoned for a long time. Axel experiences a ticklish tingling sensation in his palms, soles, and groin over what to expect.

He feels a drop of wetness against his cheek and is quick to look for a place to take shelter as he knows a torrential downpour is soon to come. He runs to the closest house, a small one, and tries the door. It opens, much to his surprise. Another flash of lightening, brighter than the previous one, brightens up the surroundings for an instance, and is immediately followed by another roar of thunder, louder than the previous as it sounds more like a boom and makes the place vibrate.

Inside, he shines his light around to see that the interior has the trappings one can expect to find in a house. Nothing looks out of place. It looks as if the occupants had only stepped out for a moment and will soon return. He wonders if there really was some disease that broke out, and hopes not to find any skeletons. A flash of lightening brightens the room for an instance and thunder booms in return, causing the house to vibrate once again.

Axel begins to explore the house as he sniffs the air. The lightening comes more frequently now, as does the painfully loud thunder that vibrates the place. While there is the smell of a building that has not been aired out in years, there is no stink associated with decaying flesh. He checks out the bedroom to find no bodies, just an unkempt bed mat with two pillows next to each other. He crouches to take a closer look at it and touches the blankets. Whoever slept here simply got up and did not make it. That did not seem right as the Japanese are usually fastidious.

Then it could only mean that they did not make their bed because they had no to time to do so.

Axel ponders over sleeping in it. He sniffs the sheets, then picks up a pillow to sniff, but neither of them stinks. He also thinks of the possibility of bugs and other invertebrates living in them. He shines his light around, but does not see anything crawling around.

He looks up to the sound of rain pattering on the roof outside and it quickly crescendoes into a downpour. Sun bright lightening continues to flash and painfully loud thunder continues to sound. Soon, the rain falls as a steady roar that dampens even the thunder. He feels glad to have made his decision to come here.

Axel heads back out into the living room and tries to look out through the window. The rain falls so heavily that it interferes with the window's transparency. He turns from the window, knowing the danger of lightening, and removes his knapsack. He sets it on a low-lying table and takes out of it an apple, curry bread, melon bread, and a bottle of water to set before himself.

He sits with crossed legs at the table and begins eating, all while the roar of the rain falling upon the house continues unabated, along with the flashes of lightening and muffled sounds of thunder.

One particularly bright flash makes him pause and take notice as it seemed to be brighter than expected. In that instance, he jumps at what he thought was an explosion as the walls and roof vibrate intensely. The roar of the explosion dies away, making Axel conclude that the lightening must have struck something nearby.

He continues eating, hoping that this house does not get struck.

Upon finishing, he decides to brush his teeth and gets out his dental floss, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Afterwards, he goes to the door and opens it to be greeted by rain falling like water out of a showerhead as it bounces from the now soaked ground and pavement, of which he spits onto.

Axel closes the door and returns to that bedroom. He stares down at it and holds his flashlight between his lip-covered teeth as he bends down to take hold of the mattress. He drags it out into the living room. There, he moves his knapsack onto another table, a smaller one, and places the bed mat where his knapsack had been. He next shakes the blanket to rid it of possible bugs, along with the pillow, and lays them back upon the bed mat.

Axel removes his sneakers and sets them on top of his knapsack. He lies upon the bed mat and covers up. The musty smell of the blanket and pillow makes him wince a bit. He lies there, his imagination running overtime. Could this place be haunted? No, that can't be right. There's supposed to be no such thing as ghosts.

In spite of the flashes of lighting and booms of thunder, the steady monotonous roar of the rainfall has a soothing effect and weariness settles over him . . .

Axel awakens to quietness, and to the memory of a dream about a silhouetted woman standing over him. He opens his eyes to see the room dimly lit by twilight. He gets up and groans as he sits there for a moment to clear his head. He stands and goes over to his knapsack to take a trail mix bar out of it and finishes off the rest of his water.

He steps out and sees that it is indeed dawn, though foggy. The air is still and damp and smells of fresh clean laundry, due to the lightening releasing nitrogen from the atmosphere. Multiple high pitched creaking resonating sounds fill the air of which he identifies as belonging to cicadas. A surreal feeling overcomes him.

Axel takes a moment to empty his bladder and wonders about those biohazard warning signs from yesterday. If that was the case, then he should at the very least be sick. He wonders what the lightening had struck last night, then wonders just what did happen for this place to be abandoned.

And why . . . this place seems familiar somehow.

Upon finishing, he begins walking toward the direction of the river with the decision to fill his water bottle. He encounters a large building with one section that is two stories tall. The building engages his curiosity and he walks up to it. He steps on something round and cylindrical and looks to see that he had tread upon a piece of rusted metal. He picks it up to examine, and discovers that it is a spent bullet casing.

Axel looks at that building and notices some spots on a section of wall. He walks up to it and fingers one of those holes, then sticks the casing into one of them and sees that it is a perfect fit.

Now bewildered over what had happened, he decides to look around inside the place and tries the door. He is surprised to find that it too is not locked, even though he had been expecting it to be. He enters to find the interior still darkened, so he removes his knapsack and takes out his flashlight once again. He shines his light around to see that it is an office building.

He walks throughout the entire place, in the process discovering that all of their doors are still open. One of those rooms is a classroom, due to its decorum. He is casual in his search as he only merely glances into each of the rooms for a second or two before moving onto another. This place also still has its trappings. As if the people working here will soon show up for work. In spite of those bullet holes outside, he finds no sign of violence inside.

After finishing with the last room, he returns to that classroom. This village must have had only a small number of children, as there are sixteen desks, each of them paired up. Its students would have ranged from prepubescent to late teens. Books are in pouches on the sides of their respective desks.

Axel stares at the blank clean chalkboard. There is a piece of chalk and an eraser on its shelf. He smirks as a mischievous mood overcomes him and picks up that chalk, then looks at his watch momentarily while shining a light on it. He prints in English letters.

 _Axel Sawyer was here on Sunday, June 21, 2015_.

Once back outside, the dawn is brighter. He walks toward where that river is supposed to be, going down what is its main street. As he walks along, he gets the feeling of being stared at and turns to look around. There is no one. He notices through the fog a building at the top of a flight of stairs. He blinks at the sight of movement, only to see nothing moving around.

With his curiosity engaged, Axel walks toward that place. After climbing up the stone stairs, he is before a shrine and goes up to it and inside to check out the interior. He finds nothing of interest as it looks to have been cleaned out, so he leaves.

Axel notices another house nearby and decides to check that one out as well. He enters it to find that it also looks as if its occupants will soon return. He checks the drawers and finds a dark wooden box. He opens it to find it filled with pictures and takes them out for a look. They are of children, five girls and one boy with two of the girls prepubescent and the rest teenaged. They are smiling and goofing off for the camera. Some of them single and some of them paired up, or more.

All of them are of the same children. One of the prepubescent girls has long straight hair cropped into a bang at her eyebrows, while the other prepubescent girl has short teased hair. Two girls are identical twins, one with her hair done up in a ponytail and the other with her hair hanging down. There is another girl with a bob haircut and wears a white dress with a white puffy hat. Then there is the boy as well.

Axel looks through those pictures some more and puts them back where he found them, then leaves.

As he heads back toward the shrine, he notices another building behind it further in the back with its large double doors mostly covered in black paint. He walks up to the building and upon reaching its steps, he sees that the black paint is actually charring. He notices something on the plank flooring in front of him and examines them. The objects are a large lock and the door handles, both broken and melted. He looks up at the double doors of thick wooden planks with the understanding that this is where the lightening struck last night.

Axel walks up to the doors and touches them, wondering if he can open them since the handles had been blasted off. He slips his fingers into the crevice between the two doors and pulls outward, making the doors part and swing slowly outward as its hinges creak loudly. With the opening now wider, he fits his fingers fully in and pulls them open and next repositions his hands so that he can push them wide, making them swing wide open on their creaking hinges so that they end up thumping against the walls.

He stands at the threshold. There are windows up above near the ceiling to let in more light, but the interior is still very dim, though not enough to force him to use his flashlight.

Axel inhales deeply then exhales, and walks in. The atmosphere becomes oppressive. The further he walks in, the more oppressive it seems to become. There is a statue in the back, head and shoulders taller than himself, and understands that it is an idol. There are other things in this place. Things of a gruesome nature. A rack with a triple row of spiked metal rods, complete with shackles. A casket that is opened to reveal spikes inside. A cage in the form of a man. Blades, saws, and other oddities line the shelves to either side of him. All these implements look like they were used to inflict pain or kill, making him wonder if this had once been a torture chamber.

He stops before the idol. In that gloom, he can see details such as its form being that of a stately woman holding up what might have been her right hand, since there was no hand to begin with. Its face looks stern and its eyes blank. It seems to glare down at him, as if about to demand what he is doing in here.

Movement to one side causes him to dart a look and jump at the presence of someone standing in the corner in the darkness. He immediately thinks a ninja. The person does not move and instead remains in shadow, becoming a silhouette. Judging by their form, the person is female as he can see long hair and a dress.

"Ah, h-hello there," he said nervously in Japanese. "I-I was just getting out of a storm last night. What is this village called?"

The woman is silent, making no movement. Then tilts her head.

"Handsome foreigner," the woman said in a soft deep voice. "Why did you leave your country?"

"Ah . . . well," as Axel struggles for an answer that doesn't seem to make much sense to him, "I was just . . . interested in seeing what was here."

"And does not your country have its own mysteries hidden within it as well?" The woman asked.

Axel struggles for an appropriate answer as he ponders that odd question.

"Have you grown weary of the mysteries hidden within your country?" The woman continued enigmatically. "How is that so when it is far bigger than Japan?"

"I . . . I'm afraid I don't understand, lady."

"No, you don't. It is sad when one who has not seen all of the mysteries their country has to offer becomes familiar with them; for in familiarity does one find contempt. Tell me, handsome stranger in a strange land. Is your soul so empty that you have to leave your vast country in order to fill it in a much smaller one?"

"Lady, I still don't understand," Axel sneered with confusion.

"Of course you don't," she answered in a condescending tone.

"Wha-What are?" Axel shakes his head firmly and glares back. "What is wrong with looking for adventure? We humans have an intrinsic desire to seek it in one form or another. Is that so wrong?"

"It is when it will lead them into situations where they may be scarred with regret. But," as she tilts her head to the other side, "if it is adventure you crave, I can slake your craving."

"Slake my craving?" Axel echoed her wryly. "How're you gonna do that?"

"Are you sure you won't regret it?" The woman asked as she straightens her head.

"I don't see how I can if you don't tell me how you're going to, slake my craving," Axel asked as he spoke those last three words sarcastically.

"Are you sure you won't regret it?" The woman repeated.

Axel sighs deeply with frustration over her weird way of speaking. He concludes that if she is going to be a weirdo, then he will humor her.

"No, I won't regret it," he stated firmly.

"So you have chosen," the woman answered. "And so you shall have."

Axel is immediately plunged into darkness as the doors shut deceptively fast with a thundering slam. His eyes shut on a reflex from the sudden appearance of light. He opens them to see that he is no longer within that building but within a large cavern with prison cells and lit by light bulbs above.

Confusion overwhelms him and a blast of light fills his vision as pain overwhelms him.


	2. Chapter 1

Axel awakens to the awareness of pain while lying on a dirt floor with his hands bound behind his back. He opens his eyes to see that he is indeed within a large cavern full of prison cells on various levels.

A female squats nearby back to him. She has long hair hanging down with a yellow ribbon tied in the back. He watches as she rifles through his knapsack, removing various items to examine and toss aside with his other stuff scattered about. She pulls out his passport and opens it.

"I know that's the letter X," she is heard reading aloud. "Ah . . . Ah . . . Ecks . . . Er . . . Saw-yer," she reads aloud, then lunges forward. "What the hell . . . ? Ah, this must be a printing error."

Axel begins to stand, a somewhat difficult task when one's hands are bound behind their back. The female rapidly turns around and stands as she had heard him. Axel manages to stand and look at her.

He gnashes his teeth as his irises shrink with shock upon discovering that she is one of the twin girls from those pictures. The one with her hair hanging down. She is dressed in a sleeveless yellow crinkled blouse and a black miniskirt.

"I . . . I know Japanese," Axel finally said.

"Ah, wonderful," the girl sighed with relief as she walks up to him, the top of her head doesn't reach his chin. "I was never good with other languages."

"Well, English is supposed to be a hard language to learn," Axel quipped. "Then again, so is Japanese. My name is Axel. Axel Sawyer. What's yours?"

"Shion. Sonozaki Shion. Now then, Sawyer-san. Tell me your date of birth."

"Isn't in there in my passport?"

"June the tenth, nineteen ninety-two?"

"Yes."

There is a moment of silence.

"Well, you did appear out of nowhere," Shion finally answered. "One moment that was an empty spot and the next thing, I suddenly see you standing there."

"I was inside a building," Axel explained, "then I noticed a woman standing nearby in the shadows. She said a whole bunch of weird stuff to me, then asked me if I wanted to go on an adventure. I humored her and said yes. Then the doors slam shut on their own and here I am. Now what's so odd about my date of birth?"

"According to your passport," as she holds it up, "you will be born nine years later."

"What?" Axel winced with a stunned look.

"Today's date by the Western calendar is June the twentieth," Shion said, "nineteen eighty-three."

Axel gapes at her with shrunken shimmering irises as he is overwhelmed with disbelief. His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of moaning from one side. Shion turns toward the sound and Axel follows her line of vision. Within one of those prison cells, he sees a girl crawl over and clasp the bars.

"That's my twin sister, Mion. Hey, Sis, guess what," as Shion turns to regard Mion while walking back over to Axel's knapsack and begins the process of packing his stuff. "We have an American visitor. His name is Axer Sawyer," mispronouncing the L as an R, something the Japanese tend to do, "and according to his passport, he will be born nine years later! I guess it must be true because he just literally appeared out of thin air before me! I was planning on having Rika-chama, then Satoko-chan, and finally Keiichi-kun down here at separate times so that I could have fun with them and hear your beautiful screaming and wailing. Oh don't worry. I'll bring them here later. But in the meantime, how about an appetizer before the main course and the dessert."

"Shion, please stop this," Mion pleaded. "This is madness!"

"Oh dear sister," Shion retorted with mock sorrow as she finishes packing up the rest of Axel's stuff, "you must understand that the ogre has awakened in me after sleeping for so longer."

"Shion, please," Mion pleaded. "It's the Oyashiro-sama Curse!"

Shion bolts up as she looks around with a delightful look.

"Satoshi is that you?!" Her voice husky and desperate as she has a demented gleam of delight in her eyes. "You've come to watch me take vengeance for you, my love!"

Shion returns to Axel.

"Now what?" Axel asked.

Shion pulls him along by his shirt over to Mion. Upon getting closer, Axel can see that Mion is the other twin girl from the picture, though her hair is down and she is wearing only an under slip. He can see the weariness and torment in her eyes.

Shion turns to Axel and pulls his shirt open, making the buttons clack. She circles around to his back while continuing to pull his shirt down past his shoulders all the way down to his waist. She slowly circles back to his front while tracing her fingers along his skin, even stroking his hair, tweaking his nipples and muscles, even giving him a gentle jab in the stomach. Axel grunts with delight from her surprisingly gentle caresses.

"Pale skin like fresh snow," Shion crooned. "Soft silky blonde hair. Pink nipples. Good muscle tone too."

She reaches up to stroke the side of his face, giving Axel a sultry smile of which he can see that does not touch her demented eyes.

"Sturdy yet delicate angular features. Eyes blue like a clear winter sky. However, as sexy as you are, I'm saving myself for my special someone. But that doesn't mean," as she traces her fingertips down his throat, chest, and stomach, "that I can't have a little fun with you."

Axel grunts at the sensuousness of her touch. His maleness grows hard. She boldly trails her fingertips ever downward, then clasps his groin full handed. Axel gasps from the shock of pleasure with widened eyes though with shrunken irises. Shion makes the same expression, though as she whoops.

"Hey, Sis, check it out!" Shion clamored as she steps off to one side so that Mion can have a full view while still gripping his crotch tightly. "That rumor about foreign men is true 'cause he's like a pony! I'm almost tempted to give up my promise to Satoshi!"

Shion lets go of Axel and makes a quick move of her hand. He is next overwhelmed with paralyzing agony, causing him to cry out as he falls like a dead weight. He trembles as his face is contorted in immense pain as he feels as if his muscles were being torn apart. He hyperventilates and groans as he had felt as if his head had been shoved underwater.

Shion turns him over onto his back and straddles him. Axel can see a stun gun being held aloft in one of her hands. Her hair brushes against his bared chest, causing him to sigh unwillingly against the warmth of her hair. She leans closer to his face with that look of madness in her eyes as her jaw hangs open.

"Admit it, Axer-kun," as she uses that suffix to note her interest in him. "You love it."

Shion straightens up once again to glare down her nose at Axel with that demented smile, made all the more fearsome by the angle of her face as the top whites are more visible. She lifts her stun gun up to her mouth and coquettishly licks the prongs, then lowers it to his face, causing him to flinch with fright and shrunken irises over the expectation of that being used on his face. She instead slowly traces the prongs down his face and neck. At his chest, he gasps at the cold metal as a prong touches his nipples, making her giggle. She continues all the way down to his groin, causing him to moan with unwanted delight. Upon reaching his groin, she stops and sensually licks her lips.

"P-Please, not like this," Axel gasped.

Axel flinches as Shion leans forward quickly and so close to his face that their noses touch.

"No?" Her tone surprisingly gentle and empathetic and runs her fingers through his hair. "Then what do you like?" Her voice was soft, making Axel sigh as her tone soaks through him and her hot breath wafts over his face.

Shion puckers her lips to give him a simple peck on his lips. Axel grumbles a sigh as a jab of pleasure radiates from his lips.

"You like that then?" Shion asked in a soft empathetic tone. She kisses him fully this time. Her warm gentle lips puckering to his own as he tastes her hot breath and her tongue seemingly melts into his mouth.

She next fully lies atop him. Her hot soft yet firm body stirs him up even more, especially her firm spongy breasts as they squish against him. Shion cradles him around his shoulders, lifting him up from the floor somewhat. She moves onto one of his cheeks as she gently kisses it. This also sends another rush of sensation through him. She moves onto his ear and kisses his lobe, then tugs on it with clenched teeth. She sighs into his ear, causing Axel to sigh with a rumble. She next moves onto his throat and kisses and suckles the full length. The throat is considered the second most erogenous zone on the human anatomy, and Axel squeaks with delight as his eyes roll up.

Shion continues to gently work her way down his chest with kisses, down his stomach, and reaches his groin. He gasps all the harder at the image of that bare part of him in her mouth.

"Is that a gun in your pants or are you happy to see me?" Shion crooned playfully as she looks up at him with her gleeful face hovering above his crotch. "I bet you're just about ready to cum your pants, aren't you, Axer-kun. Maybe this will do it."

She touches her tongue to that region, causing Axel to gasp with widened eyes and shrunken irises, and slowly trace it all the way up. She stops along the way to work on his nipples. She lovingly laps his neck. Axel feels so light headed.

Shion bites the side of his neck. Hard. He gasps in pain, of which gets more intense as her bite strength increases. She growls like an animal. The pain gets worse as he gnashes his teeth, until it reaches its peak and as he can feel skin getting broken. That is when she starts sucking, causing Axel to gasp with shock as his irises shrink with fright. Already the pleasure has passed.

Shion finally lets go and sits back up to stare down at him with those demented eyes and slack jaw, this time with his blood around her mouth. She jabs Axel in the stomach with her stun gun once more, causing him to cry out in agony as his body siezes up. Once he relaxes, she jabs him again, causing him to cry out once again. Shion laughs.

"Now this is what really gives me a runny cunny!"

"Stop!" Mion screamed. "Stop it, please! Shion, please stop!"

"Then say you're sorry a thousand times and I'll stop!" Shion taunted as she straightens.

Mion raises her hands as she presses her palms together and starts babbling, I'm sorry.

Shion next goes flying backward for about ten feet and hits the wall, knocking the wind out of her after Axel had rapidly pulled his legs in as far as they could go and kicked both feet out into her with as much adrenaline-fueled strength as he could.

Axel is quick onto his feet and runs up to Mion.

"Get 'em off!" He commanded as he quickly presses his back to the bars before her.

Mion is hesitant.

"Now!"

Mion goes into motion as she begins the arduous task of trying to get his bindings off. They are leather shackles fastened with buckles. It proves to be a difficult task with three fingernails missing from a hand and those fingers bandaged.

"Stay calm and focus, Mion," Axel assured her, though intently. "I'll watch her."

Mion continues to fiddle with the buckles of the straps. Slowly, but surely they come undone. Axel watches as Shion withers on the floor in agony as she struggles to get her breath.

"I got one!" Mion gasped with relief. "The others should be coming soon!"

"Keep up the good work," Axel encouraged. "Then I'm gonna get you out of there."

He watches as Shion finally gets her breath back and starts coughing as she gets up on her hands and knees while rasping heavily. She is not quick about it as he had really done a number on her. He notices the stun gun next to her.

"Almost there!" Mion said as she had managed to free a couple more straps. Axel can feel the bonds get looser.

Shion groggily gets up onto her feet and slowly stands, then doubles over as she winces with pain. She looks around and notices the stun gun and dives for it.

"Got it!" Mion said triumphantly as Axel now feels the bonds slip away.

Axel pulls his hands free and pulls his shirt back up over his shoulders. He backs away from the cell as Shion gets up, making the stun gun crackle with life. Her glare is murderous.

"You may have gotten free," Shion snarled, "but don't think you'll be leaving this place alive, Sawyer-san! My sister and I are daughters of a yakuza chieftain! We grew up around big strong dangerous men!"

Axel and Shion begin circling each other.

Shion clicks her tongue as she smirks. "I can tell that this is the first time you'll be fighting for your life. Don't worry. I won't make you beg for your life. I'll make you beg for death." As her eyes widen and her irises shrink while smiling broadly as she holds her stun gun up to crackle it menacingly.

"You're a very sick girl, Shion," Axel snarled.

"My, my, using my name with such familiarity already. Then again, we did get a little intimate . . . Axer. And being bigger just means being an easier target."

Axel comes to the understanding that he has got to end this and needs to get up close to her. He does just that, all while expecting a martial art attack from her, given the claim she made. He also understands that one cannot attack and defend their self at the same time.

Axel makes his move as he sees the opening.

He lunges for her stun gun, only to get blind-sided by a high kick. It was not hard, though it does knock him off balance. Shion stabs out with the stun gun. Axel manages to deflect it with his left arm. He takes the opportunity to grab her arm with his opposite hand, effectively preventing her from dropping the stun gun. He is also quick to grab her other hand with his other opposite hand so that she cannot use that against him, effectively crossing each other's arms. Another action he does is to cross his legs so that she does not knee him in the groin.

Shion drops herself then launches upward, knocking Axel off balance. He falls back on the hard dirt ground with a loud shout of pain as the wind gets knocked out of him. He still manages to maintain his dual cross grip. Shion cannot get up as Axel is pulling her down, trapping her into a squat. Though now, she is bearing her weight down upon him as her stun gun cackles incessantly near his face. Axel looks up at her demented expression of a slasher smile with shrunken irises. Shion laughs.

"What cha gonna do now, you big strong sexy stud?! How long do you think your strength is gonna hold?!"

"Long enough," Axel grunted.

Shion goes falling back, courtesy of his flexibility from lifting his legs once again. Axel had to let go of her hands in order for her to get thrown backward and onto her back, knocking the wind out of her. He is quick to roll away and twist around to immediately look for the stun gun.

He sees it in her slack grip and snatches it out of her hand and thrusts it into her, sending a current through her. She immediately reacts the way he did, but he keeps pressing it into her for several seconds longer so as to take all the fight out of her. He pulls away to find her having gone limp. He touches her neck, then tosses the stun gun aside and picks her up. He carries her over to Mion, where he presses Shion's back up against the bars and manages to slide her arms through.

"She's still alive," Axel assured her. "Now restrain her with those binds."

Mion complies as she takes the binds that were on Axel and cuffs Shion with them.

"Okay, she's restrained," Mion announced.

"So where would the key be?" Axel said as he looks at the keyhole in the cell door.

"It would be on her."

Axel checks Shion over and finds something thin and metal in one of her pockets. He pulls it out. "Ah, this must be it!"

He unlocks the cell door and it opens. Mion emerges hesitantly as she has her arms crossed and rubs her arms.

"Axel. Axel Sawyer."

"Mion. Sonozaki Mion," she answered with a faint bow. "We'll need the key to get out of here too."

Axel hands her the key and Mion takes it. Together they run, with Axel snatching up his knapsack. A chilling scream startles them and they look to see that Shion is awake and is struggling against her bonds. Her eyes look demonic as rage and effort twist her face. She screams with all of the psychotic fury that she can muster while straining against her bonds.

"Let's get out of here!" Axel fretted as he puts his knapsack on.

"That way," Mion pointed.

He follows Mion up a flight of stairs that leads to a room with an X-like table with straps all over it and seats around the ends. Around the walls are shelves with all sorts of grisly looking tools.

"What is this place?" Axel asked.

"This is my family's underground prison, where they kept people who they wanted to make examples of."

"Some family you have," Axel said sarcastically.

They exit that chamber and up another flight of stairs until they come to a set of large double doors with a large rectangular bolt locked across them, with a pair of prongs at the top and bottom that fit through their respective sleeves. Mion is about to put the key into the lock in the center.

"It sounds like her screaming is," Axel said as he turns back. "Holy shit!"

They see Shion bounding up the stairs full of homicidal wrath as her face is warped to the point that she no longer appears human. Her teeth seem to jut out like a shark's as saliva dribbles down the sides of her mouth. Her arms hang down by her side with the leather cuffs still on them, but with their bonds broken and waving freely.

Shion closes the distance with them fast. Oddly, she has yet to raise her arms. If anything, she seems to be trying to but is unable to do so. Axel now understands that she had broken her arms and possibly tore her muscles in breaking her bonds. Shion's eyes are locked upon him and she throws herself at him, but he is quick to throw himself aside while pushing Mion aside. Shion collides with the doors face first, making a sickening thud upon impact. She bounces off and falls backward. Blood flows out of her nose and it looks somewhat crooked, showing that she had broken it.

Shion struggles to get up while making demented grunts. Once back upon her feet, she attacks; only to arch back and shiver, then fall. She begins having violent seizures as she thrashes and kicks around violently while making gagging sounds as her eyes are wide with her irises shrunken to pinpricks.

She goes completely still as she makes a long loud eerie groan. Her eyes turn up. Axel slowly walks over and kneels down, ever wary that it may be a trick. He touches her throat for a few seconds, and next reaches up and closes her eyelids. He straightens and looks at Mion.

"I'm sorry," he whispered with an empathetic look.

Mion hangs her head as her tears flow down her cheeks. She turns to the doors and unlocks them. Axel helps her push the doors open to let in the light of the clear afternoon as a fresh warm breeze blows in. Together, they step out. He looks back at Mion.

"So now what?" Axel asked.

"Now we get help!" Mion gasped, and runs toward the mansion.

She looks back and stops upon doing a double take, because Axel is now gone.


	3. Chapter 2

"Argh! What the fuck is going on?!" Axel grated with shock as he raises his hands and clasps his head to briskly brush his hands through his hair.

It is all due to now being surrounded by forest.

He lowers his hands with a groan, and next looks down at himself. He removes his knapsack and buttons his shirt back up and tucks it back into his pants. He puts his knapsack back on and checks his watch to see that it is four P.M. and the date is Sunday, June the nineteenth. His watch does not show the year.

Axel looks around and sees a hilltop visible through the trees and goes upon it. The view around him is of tall rugged forested mountains, near and far, with the further ones perennially snowcapped. Down below is a village nestled in the mountains with a river running nearby.

His irises shrink as he grits his teeth in shock upon recognizing that it is the village where he had taken shelter within.

From out of his knapsack, Axel removes a large zipper storage bag. It contains a red-covered book with the word, Notebook, printed in bas-relief and in golden coloring on its cover. There is also a mechanical pencil and a mechanical vinyl eraser in it as well. He had decided to use these instead of a computer tablet because he feared it malfunctioning or being stolen.

He takes them out and opens the notebook to a blank page, then thinks for a moment about what to write. He finally prints the heading, Situation #1, and underlines it. He starts writing about what had occurred.

He finishes up by ending that he is within a forest in Situation #2. On a hunch, he prints the heading, Situation #3, on a blank page and underlines that one as well.

He puts the notebook, pencil, and eraser back into the storage bag and puts them back into his knapsack. He starts walking toward that village. It is rough going as he has to pass through trees, though some of them are high, leaving shade on the forest floor so that plants cannot grow high to block progress. He encounters a small stream and takes a moment to take out his water bottle to fill it up.

Axel eventually reaches the bottom and comes upon the village's road. He walks into the village. Unlike before, this one is done up and functioning, with immaculate fields of long grass that are of rice. Stone lined streams that line the road, and the watermill next to that bridge functioning as its huge wooden wheel creaks softly and incessantly as it turns making the water splash. As he walks further, he encounters the building with the classroom inside it.

His presence had not gone unnoticed. Japan's country folk are less use to foreigners, which in turn can make them potentially less friendly. As is obvious in this case as Axel takes note of the leers and glares they give him. They speak their minds about him to their friends and neighbors in the supposed belief that he cannot understand them.

" . . . A foreigner?! What's one of them doing here . . . ?!"

" . . . I thought they stuck to the cities . . . ?!"

" . . . Strawhead . . . !"

" . . . Paste skin . . . !"

" . . . beady blue-eyed devil . . . !"

" . . . Oyashiro-sama might bring his curse down for allowing a foreigner in here . . . !"

"Excuse me," Axel said politely to a woman, causing her to gasp. "Don't worry, I can speak Japanese. I was wondering about the name of this village. What its name?"

But the woman hurries away from him, glancing back at him with a look that is both fearful and contemptuous.

"Hey! Pisshead!" A man shouted angrily. "Stop tryin' to take our women!"

Axel looks to see three men storming up to him with glowering expressions. The other villagers stop to watch.

"I-Is there a problem?" Axel asked with polite unease as a sweat drop graces the side of his face.

"Yes! The problem is you!" The second man snarled as he points ardently at Axel.

"Go back to where you came from before you bring the curse of Oyashiro-sama down upon us all!" The third man snarled as he raised his fist in the air.

"Wait! Whose curse?" Axel asked upon hearing that name before.

"Oyashiro-sama!" The head man barked again. "He will curse those who offend him!"

He remembers hearing that name from that girl, Mion.

"Hey, piss hair, are you stupid?" The head man grated, then shoves Axel. "Get the fuck out of our village!"

"Stop this!" A girl shouted.

Axel looks to see two little girls and gasps in shock with shrunken irises upon seeing that one of them is the little girl from those pictures. The one with the long hair cut with a bang. The other girl holds his attention the most due to her transparency, like a ghost. The ghost girl drifts to one side and back to the other girl's side.

"Hauauau, Rika, he can see me!" The transparent girl whined to the other.

The girl named Rika leers at the other girl with subtle surprise, then walks up to Axel.

"What is your name?" There is a touch of eagerness in her tone and her voice is surprisingly mature. To Axel, it sounded familiar.

"Axel Sawyer," he answered.

Rika grimaces in surprise. "I've been expecting you, Axer! Come with me. We have much to discuss."

Axel follows them as the crowd parts.

"Save your questions for when we are in my house," Rika said.

"Fine," Axel sighed.

He follows them all the way up to that house where he had found those pictures of her and her friends. They enter and she closes the door.

"Now then," Rika began, "I am Furude Rika, and she is Furude Hanyuu. My distant ancestor. She is the local god here."

"A god," Axel sneered.

"I will tell you all that you need to know," Rika said. "Just let me pour up a glass of red wine first. Would you like a glass too, Axer?"

"Very well," he answered, not believing her.

Rika pours up a glass of wine and hands it to him. He takes a drink and his eyes go wide with shrunken irises.

"Hey, hey, this really is red wine! How old are you?"

"Ten," Rika answered, then takes a swig from her glass.

"And your parents let you drink alcohol?"

"They're dead." After lowering her glass.

"Oh," Axel said humbly. "I'm sorry."

"And now to begin," Rika stated. "It is a simple story really. I get killed and Hanyuu reincarnates me into another world into the same month and year as the previous one. It has gone on for a hundred times, maybe more."

She takes another sip of her wine while Axel mentally digests that story as he gapes with widened eyes and shrunken irises.

"I . . . I really don't know what to say," Axel said with quiet astonishment.

"And what is your story for being here, Axer?" Rika asked.

"It all started when I came to Japan to hike around the countryside back in my world," Axel began.

He goes on to tell them about the circumstances that led him here.

"That was one of the worlds I was murdered in," Rika said.

"Before coming here," Axel said. "I was sent to one where I was in an underground cavern full of prison cells."

And he tells them about his involvement with Shion.

"That was another world I was murdered in too," Rika said. "But not before I heard from Mion about how a blond foreigner rescued her from Shion and then mysteriously vanished afterwards. In this one, I have yet to meet Shion. When Hanyuu and I saw you out there, I figured that it must have been you."

"So I didn't go back in time after all," Axel mused. "I only went into other worlds instead. What about you now, Hanyuu? What's this about you being a god?"

"I lived hundreds of years ago, but I died as an adult after I had agreed to sacrifice myself for the safety of everyone in this village. I am, or was, Oyashiro-sama. It was to pacify the ogres that the villagers were descended from."

"Ogres?"

"Hundreds of years ago, this village was said to have been populated by ogres. I sacrificed myself so that those ogres would become human. Yet the ogre blood still flowed in their veins and there was the possibility of them turning back into ogres once again. So an edict was decreed: Any who leave the village risk turning back into ogres."

"Well clearly there must be a flaw in that edict," Axel answered sarcastically. "Given the reception I got out there." Thumbing over his shoulder. "Just what is this ogre thing exactly?"

"It is actually a parasite that is unique to this area," Rika said. "It can only thrive here and the villagers are all infected with it. Right now, it's in its low stage. And will remain such for so long as nothing stressful occurs to agitate the parasite. Part of that is leaving the village because the parasite ends up creating a feeling of homesickness. If it is not back in its native environment, it causes the carrier to become paranoid and delusional to the point of violence against others. The carrier ends up killing their self by clawing out their own throat as they tear at the lymph nodes located there."

"And I thought rabies was bad," Axel sneered sarcastically. "So why aren't they all going mad and killing each other off or themselves?"

"It is because I am a Queen Carrier," Rika continued. "I, like my mother before me and her mother before her all the way back to Hanyuu, secrete a pheromone that calms the parasite. Part of that is every June, we engage in the Watanagashi Festival. It is where I cut up cotton and pass out balls of it to the villagers. They place all their sins into it and set it adrift upon the river. It may be symbolic, but we humans find solace in symbolism because it makes our faith tangible."

"Interesting tradition," Axel mused. "Oh yeah," as he remembers something important. "What's the name of this village?"

"Hinamizawa," Rika answered. "The disease is also named after this place: the Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"Gah, now I remember!" Axel rasped with realization as he slapped his palm to his forehad momentarily. "I can't believe I had it forgotten! I even read about this place while studying about Japan!"

"How did it go?" Rika asked.

"It was reported that everyone in this village went mad and killed everybody around them and then themselves," Axel explained. "The government thought it to be something like rabies and had the place quarantined."

"In the other worlds," Hanyuu said, "the story used was that it was a volcanic gas leak."

"A biohazard story makes more sense," Axel pointed out, "because it makes the public imagine a horrible death; so they're less likely to trespass into such a place. Even up to my time, the place was still abandoned. Or so I thought."

"What year was it when you left?" Rika asked.

"Two thousand fifteen. That catastrophe occurred over thirty years ago, at least where my world is concerned. So what year is it here?"

"Nineteen eighty-three," Rika answered.

Axel blinks a bit as he humphs casually. His expression suddenly turns to fear as his irises shrink.

"W-Wait! C-Could I already be infected with this?!"

"No, because you're not Japanese," Rika answered.

"So when was the last time this Hinamizawa Syndrome acted up?" Axel asked.

"Back in nineteen seventy-eight," Rika answered as she stares into her glass and swirls the contents around casually with a tilt of her glass. "The government was going to have a hydroelectric dam built here. The people would have been forced to move because it would have created a lake that would have sunk Hinamizawa."

"I take it that it failed then," Axel said dryly.

"Yes it did. It was through the combined actions of violent opposition from the villagers and the kidnapping of the Minister of Construction's grandson, who was later released unharmed. In ninteen seventy-nine, the manager of the dam was mutilated by his work crew, but the ringleader was never found, and neither was the manager's right arm. That is when the government abandoned the project. In nineteen eighty, my close friend Satoko lost her parents when they fell off a cliff overlooking the river. They only found her father's body. In nineteen eighty-one, my father, the head priest, died suddenly. My mother went missing and was believed to have drowned herself in the Onigafuchi Swamp. They found her slippers and a suicide note. In ninteen eighty-two, which was last year, Satako's aunt was found beaten to death. A drug addict was arrested and claimed responsibility, but he later killed himself by choking on a spoon. Four days later, on Satoko's birthday, her brother, Satoshi, went missing."

"That's pretty gruesome," Axel winced.

"These incidents all have one thing in common," Rika said. "They took place either on the night of the Watanagashi Festival or the day after. And tonight . . . is the Watanagashi Festival."

"Th-Then if this pattern holds," Axel gasped, "it's either tonight or tomorrow that somebody is going to be murdered!"

"And another will get demoned away," Rika said. "Missing that is."

"Something else I want to know too," Axel said. "How do you explain my being here?"

"I can't," Rika answered. "Maybe you are meant to help us somehow."

"Not much help if you ask me," Axel said dryly. "So, if the last universe is of any clue, I will go from this universe into the next one."

"Yes," Rika said. "I even get the feeling that the reason why you left the last one was after you helped saved Mion. Meaning that you will go into the next one when you are finished doing whatever it is that you did here."

Axel disappears as fast as a person can blink without any special effects, causing Hanyuu to express her verbal tic of "hauauau" while pressing her hands against her cheeks.

"I rest my case," Rika remarked in a dry wit and finishes off the rest of her wine.


	4. Chapter 3

Axel is next aware of being within a garbage dump as he is surrounded by hills of junk, including an abandoned van up above him. He hears voices coming from around the junk pile in front of him and carefully makes his way to the edge of it and listens. He looks to see a woman with short hair and wearing a top and close-fitting slacks talking to someone unseen.

"Lies!" the unseen person shouted. A girl, judging by her voice.

"It's not a lie. It's the truth," the woman denied innocently.

"I heard it," the girl is heard accusing the woman harshly. "What you said to a man named Teppei at the Café. I know that you called my dad your 'Hinamizawa Husband', and you're trying to bait him! And your 'badger' tactics too. I know it all!"

"Hm? So you know all about it?" The woman crooned dangerously. Axel sees her looking around and ducks away before her gaze turns in his direction. "So you say . . . This is your secret hide-away, huh? No one knows about it . . . Just your secret place, right?" Her tone increasing with deviousness, causing Axel to tense.

The sound of a slap makes him look to see the woman grab the girl by her hair and he immediately goes into action. He reaches the woman in time as she attempts to strangle the hapless girl and grabs her hair, causing her to let go to grab his hands while crying out in pain, and drags her off and away from the girl. He lets go and gets between her and the girl. The woman recovers with a furious expression as she gets up to confront him, only to cower before him while grimacing up at him with shimmering shrunken irises that shows both fear and frustration.

"You wanna try strangling me instead?" Axel said menacingly in Japanese. "Get lost." Ending with a snarl.

The woman runs away. Axel continues watching her until she is out of sight and next hears a car engine starting up. He turns to regard the girl who still sits there staring up at him with an astonished expression. He is startled that she is also one of the girls from those pictures: the girl with the bob cut hairstyle and wearing a white dress with puffy white hat.

"Hello there, my name is Axel Sawyer," he said with a smile and offers her his hand. "Are you all right?"

The girl stares at his hand for a moment, then picks up her hat and puts it on.

"Uh . . . yes," she answered as she clasps hold of his hand and is helped up. "Yes I am. My name is Ryuuguu Rena."

Axel expects to leave, only it does not happen. At least not yet.

"I guess I'm not finished here," he mused.

"Eh?" Rena inquired.

"Oh, I'm just thinking out loud," Axel said. "Who was that woman?"

"She sometimes goes by the name, Rina. But her real name is Ritsuko. She's involved with my father, but it's all a deception so that she can get to his money for her pimp, Teppei."

"I pretty much overheard that. Listen, Rena-chan, this is an extremely serious matter. If it wasn't for my being here, she would've killed you. The police must be alerted."

"Yeah, you're right, Axer-san."

"I'm coming with you. I get the feeling that bitch won't go down without a fight, especially since she's connected to a dangerous man."

"Th-Thank you," Rena said as she bows slightly to him.

"Where is the closest police station?" Axel asked.

"It's kinda far."

"Then let's get going."

And they leave.

* * *

The woman, Ritsuko, arrives at Teppei's house where Teppei is seated at a table counting his money with two of his subordinates sitting there as well.

"What's wrong, Ritsuko?" Teppei asked.

"We got a problem!"

"Eh?"

Ritsuko lowers her head and takes a deep breath. Then raises her head. "It's about my Hinamizawa Husband! His daughter, Reina, knows all about us and our badger game!"

"What?!" As Teppei rises out of his seat. "How?!"

"She was in the Angel Mort the other day when we were together! She overheard everything!"

"And just how would you happen to know that she knows?" Teppei asked grimly as he leans over the table to glare into Ritsuko's face with a crook of his brow.

"I followed her to the junk yard outside of town," Ritsuko explained. "That is where she revealed the truth to me."

"And then what did you do to insure her secrecy?" Teppei growled menacingly as he reaches out to clasp her chin and bring her face even closer to his own.

"I tried to kill her but a big foreign guy interfered! I-I had no choice but to flee!" Ending in a desperate tone.

"What?!" Teppei roared into her face as he yanks her forward by her chin so that she has to stop herself from falling by quickly planting her hands upon the table.

"Wait! Wait! We can fix this!" Ritsuko cried with shrunken irises as she clasps Teppei's wrist with one of her hand.

"How?" Teppei growled as he keeps his grip upon her chin.

"Okay," Ritsuko sighed as she collects her wits. "We have to assume that Reina is on her way to the police with that foreigner for protection, but the closest police station is far from that junk yard. Now, if you and the boys come with me, we should catch up to them. That way I can deal with Reina while you three deal with the foreigner, who also knows Japanese by the way."

Teppei releases her chin so that Ritsuko straightens and he thinks while leering upward while stroking his own chin.

"Understood. Come on, boys."

* * *

Axel and Rena are walking along the road.

"You're Japanese is good, Axer-san," Rena said.

"Why thank you."

"I was never very good with languages," Rena said in a somber tone as she looks down momentarily. "But I'm good at detective work though." As she looks up at him on a brighter tone.

"Is that so? Then maybe you should think about becoming a police detective when you get older."

Rena giggles a close-eyed smile.

"So the name of the place were heading to is?" Axel asked as he trails off, knowing what she will say.

"Hinamizawa."

"Hinamizawa," Axel echoed grimly.

"So exactly where are you from in America, Axer-san?"

"I'm from Ohio."

Rena giggles once again.

"What's so funny?"

" _Ohayou_ means good morning in Japanese."

"Ohio gets its name from an Indian tribe. Many of America's states are named after the Indian tribes who lived there."

Rena stops as she scowls ahead, causing Axel to stop as well and look. He sees a car off in the distance approaching them.

"That's Ritsuko's car!" Rena gasped. "Axer-san, we have to get out of here!" As she runs, prompting Axel to follow. Together they run into the forest.

* * *

"That's them!" Ritsuko exclaimed as she points forward from the driver's seat with Teppei alongside her.

"They just made it easy for us," Teppei sneered. "All we have to do is simply get out and chase them into the woods and kill them in there without witnesses."

* * *

Axel and Rena run through the forest, pushing brush aside. A distant slamming of car doors makes them both stop momentarily to look back, with Axel gnashing his teeth and his irises shrunk from fright.

"My God, those guys really are out to kill us!" He gasped.

"Come on!" As Rena grabs him and they run again.

They keep running through the forest.

"Does this Teppei have any friends?" Axel asked.

"I think he has two," Rena answered. "And we must assume that they're with him."

She stops for a moment to regard Axel.

"We're going to have to split up," she said intently. "The three guys will come after you, while Ritsuko will come after me."

"But-"

"No choice!" Rena stated desperately. "If we stay together, they will kill us together! But with us seperated, we will have a fighting chance."

"M-Maybe for you with that woman, but I'm gonna have three men to contend with! I don't think I can fight two men, let alone three!"

"There is no choice, Axer-san! Now run!"

Axel nods and runs one way, while Rena runs the other.

* * *

Ritsuko, Teppei, and his two thugs stomp through the forest in pursuit of Axel and Rena.

"This is such a pain in the ass," one of the thugs whined. "Where did those two go?"

"Man up, fool! We'll get them!" Teppei snarled.

"Look!" the other thug exclaimed while pointing.

They see Rena running off.

"Over there!" Ritsuko exclaimed while also pointing.

They see Axel running in the opposite direction of Rena.

"You sure you don't want one of the boys with you?" Teppei asked Ritsuko.

"Nah, I can handle Reina by myself," she waved dismissively with closed eyed haughtiness. "And besides, you're going to need them to handle that foreigner."

"Fine. Come on, boys."

Ritsuko goes off in pursuit of Rena as Teppei and his two goons go off in pursuit of Axel.

* * *

Axel runs through the forest. He does not know the lay of the land and hopes that he does not get lost. He wishes that he could go into another universe right about now.

He is stopped by a mountain side too steep to climb and too wide to get around, and is doubly trapped on either side by brush too thick to go through. Sweat rolls down his face as he starts hyperventilating.

"Gotcha now, _gaijin_!"

The loud coarse voice shouted from behind him, causing Axel to rapidly turn around with pinpricked irises at the sight of three men stalking toward him with gleeful expressions. One of them is dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and has permed bleach hair.

"You should've minded your own business, you stupid _gaijin_!" Teppei sneered. "Or maybe you thought you were gonna get lucky with that girl you rescued?"

Axel takes a deep breath as he removes his knapsack.

* * *

Rena runs through the trees and stops to listen. She cannot hear anything and wonders if she had indeed lost Ritsuko, then continues onward.

A punch to the face causes Rena to cry out and fall upon the cool hard ground. Ritsuko is quick to straddle her stomach once again and clamp her hands around Rena's throat. Ritsuko grins malevolently.

"Finally, I can kill you in peace," she exclaimed triumphantly, "now that Teppei and the boys are handling your foreign bodyguard. It's too bad really because he is pretty hot. Were you going to reward him with a fuck afterwards, Reina-chan? You're probably still too small for foreign-!"

Ritsuko screams in agony while letting go of Rena's throat and arches back from having a stick viciously jabbed into her eye, courtesy of Rena, who shoves her away to scurry out from underneath. Rena eagerly gulps breathes of fresh air and revives.

"You fucking little bitch!" Ritsuko shrieked with rage as she turns to regard Rena while still covering her eye.

And ends up getting a massive rock to the face.

Ritsuko falls backward while gagging with a busted bloodied face that is now missing front teeth. Rena, now snarling with widened eyes and shrunken gleaming irises, stands over Ritsuko with a rock the size of a soccer ball held high above her head in both hands.

"Die!" Rena screeches as she brings that rock down upon Ritsuko's head with a sickening crunch, splattering blood.

She continues to bash in Ritsuko's head while screaming for her to die, and eventually stops to catch her breath. Though mainly over Ritsuko's caved in head and popped out eyes.

Rena drops the rock back onto Ritsuko's head and runs to find the road, and does so. She sees the car and runs up to it. There, she checks around to find anything and ends up finding a nata, a machete with a long pointed tip that runs perpendicular to the blade, in the trunk.

"Odd, that was not taken with them," Rena noted aloud as she holds it aloft. "They must've been too cocky, believing that they could handle us."

* * *

Axel grunts loudly as he is thrown to the ground. His face now swollen and bloodied.

"Stupid fool," Teppei gloated as he repeatedly kicks Axel in the ribs. "Did you think you could take us all on?" Then stops. "Get him up boys."

They roughly grab Axel and hoist him up by either arm and pin them behind his back, exposing his front. Teppei punches Axel in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, causing him to gasp once again in pain. Axel's head gets winced back as one of the thugs grabs his hair and pulls. He barely registers a punch coming his way, before it connects with his cheek, violently twisting his head off to one side as he gets a dreamy feeling once again and pain goes searing through his face.

"Let's end this," Teppei said grimly as he takes out a knife.

 _So this is it._ Axel thought as he feels his mind detach from himself. Instead of his whole life flashing before his eyes, it's his death instead. _Guess they were wrong about that_.

"Look out!" One of the thugs yelled.

Teppei turns around with a curious expression and ends up getting his head chopped off. Blood gushes up from the stump of his neck like a fountain as his body collapses and his head bounces along the ground. Axel gapes at the sight of Rena, her white clothes splattered and dripping with blood as she holds the nata.

The thugs are flabbergasted and loosen their hold upon Axel. He goes into action by wreching his arms free and elbowing one thug in the face and punching the other, doing his best to ignore the pain he is in.

Rena rushes past him and slays one of the thugs. Axel is shocked at how quickly she had taken him down. The other thug is terror-striken and turns to run, but he is not quick enough as Rena also slays him as well.

Axel is kneeling on the ground as he stares between the three men with wide eyes with shimmering pinpricked pupils. Their blood flowing over the ground. He stares at Teppei's head lying elsewhere as his mind seems to stretch, then up at Rena and gives a start over seeing the same look in her eyes that Shion had.

"Axer-kun, are you okay?" Her tone innocent and concerned.

"I . . . I don't know," he answered hesitantly as he is finally able to stand, fighting against the pain in his ribs.

Rena looks around, then back at Axel.

"This solves our problem," Rena said in a soft chilly tone.

Axel walks up to his knapsack and picks it up.


	5. Chapter 4

Axel is next aware of darkness lit only by faint light entering through windows. He is startled by the silhouette of someone sitting up.

"Axer," the silhouette said, a very familiar voice.

"Hauauau, Axer-san," a familiar voice whined as the speaker appears.

"Rika?! Hanyuu?!" Axel gasped.

"Yes, it's us," Rika answered.

"How did you know it was me?" Axel asked.

"Who else would pop in so unexpectedly," Rika answered. "That and your hair and skin practially glow in the dark."

That is when Axel pats himself over in shock.

"What's the matter?" Rika asked.

"In the last universe, I was beaten to a pulp! And now . . . it's as if I never was!"

"Then it must mean that you regenerate every time you enter a new universe," Hanyuu said.

Axel walks up to the window to look out. The night is clear with a moon high in the sky.

"Would it be okay if I were to turn on a light?" Axel asked.

"By all means," Rika answered.

Axel does so and next checks the time by his watch.

"Eleven o'clock. Thursday, June the sixteenth."

"It seems that the time on your watch will also adjust to whatever the time is decreed to be when you enter that universe," Hanyuu said.

"So it seems," Axel said.

He takes out his notebook and prepares to write in it. He renames the Situations to Universes, with his home universe being named, Prime Universe. Universe #1 is about Shion and his rescuing Mion; Universe #2 is about when he first met Rika and Hanyuu who explained what was going on; and Universe #3 is about his meeting Rena and rescuing her.

Axel writes about Universes Two and Three.

"What are you writing?" Hanyuu asked.

"I'm keeping a record of my travels through the other universes," Axel answered. "This is Universe Number Four to me."

"So, that is English," Hanyuu mused as she hovers above his shoulder. "It may as well be chicken scratches to me."

"I suppose the same could be said about Kanji," Axel said dryly.

He writes in silence for a time. At a blank page, he prints the heading, Universe#4, and underlines it, then puts his notebook away.

"You can turn off the light," Rika said.

Axel does so and sits up on the windowsill. He looks down at the village with only the odd street light illuminating it.

"What's going on in this universe so far?" He asked.

"My friend is being kept a prisoner by her uncle," Rika answered.

"Anything being done about him?" Axel asked.

"No," Rika answered sadly. "Just like I cannot do anything about the ones who are responsible for getting me killed and the rest of the villagers."

"Do you have any idea who's doing that?" Axel asked.

"Yes," Rika answered. "They are Tokyo. Not the city, but an organization. They are a syndicate made up of the War Generation. They being military generals, high level bureaucrats, and other very important persons. They are working through the Irie Clinic. I'm convinced that they have someone here."

"But why would they want to kill you?" Axel sneered.

"They want to see the full effects of the Hinamizawa Syndrome as it breaks out," Rika answered. "Remember what I told you about me."

"Yes, you are a Queen Carrier," Axel stated as he points at her. "Your presence keeps the pathogen calm." He then scowls with shrunken irises and gnashed teeth. "This Tokyo group is pretty vile to want that."

"They also want to weaponize it," Rika said.

"What?!" Axel exclaimed with a wide eyed shrunken iris look of horror. "Are they crazy?! What do you think will happen if the American government learns of that?!"

"America," Hanyuu pondered. "That huge country far to the east across the ocean."

"Yeah, that's right," Axel verified. "Decades ago your people picked a fight with us and suffered the consequences for it."

"Hiroshima. Nakasaki," Rika said.

"Hauauau, I've seen what happened to those cities," Hanyuu whined. "I can't see everything, but I can see what becomes obvious. I used to think that only a god could possess such power."

"I guess this Tokyo group must still be nursing a huge grudge over that," Axel said dourly.

He falls silent and looks back out the window once again.

"Alternate universes," he said absently. "You and Hanyuu have proven the physicists to be right. Whole universes that get created because of you two."

"But it's only Hinamizawa," Hanyuu said.

"Don't you get it?" Axel stated eagerly as he looks to Hanyuu. "Hinamizawa is a part of Japan. Japan is a part of Earth. Earth is a part of the Solar System. The Solar System is a part of the Milky Way Galaxy. And the Milky Way Galaxy is a part of this universe. Not _the_ universe, _this_ universe!"

"Hauauau, even that overwhelms my mind!" Hanyuu howled in awe as she holds her head while her eyes swirl.

"Hinamizawa is but an atom when compared to the rest of the universe," Rika said.

"More like a Higgs-Boson Particle," Axel quipped. "Also known as the God Particle. It will be discovered in the future, at least in my universe. It will be the smallest particle known."

He looks down at where Rika sleeps and sees two futons. "So . . . would it be okay if I were to . . . ?"

"You may sleep there if you wish," Rika answered. "That was Satoko's futon. The one being held by her uncle."

"Thank you," he said as he sits on it and starts removing his sneakers. "I just hope that I don't wake up and find myself in another universe outside on the ground."

"That won't happen," Hanyuu said. "I have knowledge of how this works for you now."

Axel removes his sneakers and lays them nearby. He next covers up and fiddles his hands underneath the blanket and starts taking his pants off.

"Hauauau, Axer-san, are you getting naked?!" Hanyuu squealed uneasily as her eyes become solid black and shimmer.

"Oh no, I'm still going to keep my underwear on." As he puts them outside. "It's just that I want to be more comfortable. Besides, it'll be too warm for me to sleep."

"I do hope that I will be able to grow into a woman," Rika chuckled with a smile at Axel. "Then, I will be able to experience adult games."

Both Hanyuu and Axel look at Rika with expressions of spitting out something vile as their eyes bulge with shrunken irises.

"Good night," he squeaked as he is quick to cover up his head. His mind on the verge of shutting down over a remark that no child should be psychologically capable of saying.

Axel awakens to the sound of chopping and opens his eyes to find himself still in Rika's house. He looks over to see Rika at a counter standing on a stool in order to reach it. Hanyuu is hovering nearby.

Rika stops to regard Axel. "Good morning, Axer."

"Hauau, good morning, Axer-san," Hanyuu chirped.

"And a good morning to you too, Rika, Hanyuu." And he reaches for his pants and slips them on underneath. "Making breakfast are you?"

"Yes, something light," Rika answered.

"Very well, so what are you doing today?" As he gets up out of the futon and puts his shirt on. "Because I haven't the foggiest notion over what to do."

"Well, since it is a school day today, I think that you having something to do with English could be a help. We do learn it from time to time. With a genuine English speaker here, it will be a help in speaking it."

Axel prepares for breakfast and is soon eating a rice ball with miso soup.

"I take it you don't need to eat, Hanyuu?" Axel asked rhetorically.

"No, but our senses are connected."

Upon finishing, they are soon out of the house with Axel walking with Rika, and Hanyuu hovering along. He had decided to leave his knapsack behind. Axel's presence is noticed by the villagers, who whisper about the foreigner in their midst.

"The villagers don't seem so hostile to me," Axel noted.

"It may have to do with them being less agitated in this universe," Rika answered. "Then again, it could be just my presence that's protecting you."

"So who are your friends here, Rika?"

"They are Maebara Keiichi, a boy, Ryuuguu Rena-"

"Rena's here?!" Axel gasped.

"Yes she is, but don't worry, she won't know you in this world."

"Ah, okay. Any others?"

"The twin girls you met."

"Mion and Shion?!"

"Exactly." Rika then looks ahead. "Oh, there they are."

* * *

Her friends are gathered on the road up ahead and watch Rika approaching with a stranger in tow.

"Who is that with Rika-chan?" Keiichi asked as he shades his eyes with his hand.

"I-It's a foreigner?!" Mion exclaimed. "What's a foreigner doing out here in Hinamizawa?"

"Given that he is speaking with Rika," Rena said, "he can speak Japanese."

"Mm, he's sexy," Shion mused with shrunken feline irises while rubbing her chin with her thumb and forefinger. "Hey, hey," regarding the others with a broad cat smile and fingers over her mouth, "rumor has it that foreign men are supposed to have elephant seals."

"Oh ho ho, you naughty girl," as Mion mirrors her sister's actions. "And I thought that school you were going to turns girls into proper women."

"Oh please," Shion laughed as she wipes her eye, then waves her hand dismissively, "if only you could hear the things that are talked about amongst the girls in that school."

Keiichi gives them a quizzical look.

"Ah, don't worry Kei-chan, I still love you," Mion said with in a patronizing tone of comfort as she hugs Keiichi.

"And so do I," Shion agreed as she also hugs Keiichi.

* * *

As Axel gets closer, he can see Rika's friends more clearly. He especially focuses on the three girls. Obviously, Shion is mentally sound in this universe. Rena and Shion are both dressed in the same clothes that he had first met them.

The two sides finally meet up. Axel is quick to notice that Shion does not have that demented look and seems prettier than her sister as she has a more refined manner to her.

"Rika, what is a foreigner doing here?" Mion asked.

"He arrived at my place last night," she answered in her child-like tone. "So I let him stay there for the time being. Nipaa . . . ! Hey, hey, Axer, why don't you introduce yourself."

"My name is Axel Sawyer, and I am from America."

"Eh, an American?" Keiichi pondered. "How is it that you happen to know a foreigner in the first place, Rika-chan?"

"That's . . . complicated," Rika answered.

"Let me see," Axel said. "You must be Shion," as he points her out correctly, "Mion, Rena, and Keiichi-san." Taking note that he is the boy in those pictures as well.

"Hauu!" Rena exclaimed as she blushes while grabbing her own cheeks. "We only just met and already you're being so bold, Axer-san!"

"I was using san for all of you in that manner," Axel answered. "I guess I should've used it seperately."

"Well, he is an American," Mion said, "and they do tend to be forward."

"So how do you know Rika-chan, Sawyer-san?" Keiichi asked. "Given that someone like you has never been seen around here before, and that Rika has never been outside the village."

"If I were to tell you, you'd end up thinking that I have Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"Eh?" Keiichi asked.

"What you believe to be Oyashiro-sama's Curse," Axel said.

Rika's friends react with shock.

"Y-You know about that?!" Rena exclaimed.

"Axel's knowledge of this situation is something that was not acquired through normal means," Rika said.

"What are you talking about, Rika-chan?" Keiichi asked.

"Keiichi, Shion, Mion, Rena," Rika said firmly in a more mature tone. "You must understand that there are events taking place that are so sensitive that it could be extremely difficult for you to comprehend it. Events that have caught Axer up into it. And I have no time to explain them, so we must be on our way to school. Axer will be coming with us because I have a task for him that the teacher might approve of."

They reach the school where Axel is introduced to the school principal and the teacher, Rumiko Chie.

"I see," the principal said. A bald man with a drooping mustache. "That is a good idea."

"Oh yes, a very good idea indeed," Chie beamed with a close-eyed smile with her hand placed against her cheek. "Have you ever eaten curry, Axer-san?"

"Ah, no, I haven't."

"Here," Chie said as she holds up her other hand to give him a small bowl of curry with a spoon all while still maintaining that pose.

Axel takes it and eats some.

"Hey, this is pretty good," he said respectfully.

"Why thank you," Chie squeaked while wiggling as she places both her hands against her face with that close-eyed smile. "So then," as she has her hands folded below her waist. "Would you be interested in having a Japanese wife, Axer-kun?"

Axel gags on the curry as his eyes go wide and his irises shrink. The rest of the gang do so as well.

"S-So bold!" Keiichi gasped.

"I didn't think she was that desperate," Mion whispered to the gang.

Axel stands there wondering just how he should handle this. Shion in Universe #1 was one thing, but this is something else as he remembers the encounters he had shortly after arriving in Japan. The leers he got from a number of women and girls. The pictures they took of him, and with him. And even how they flirted with him. One highschool girl even flashed him the fig: a sexual gesture where a fist is made while thrusting out the thumb between the fore and middle fingers.

Then came that incident on a subway where someone copped a feel of his bottom. Axel never saw who did it, but the hand felt female. At least . . . he hoped it belonged to a female.

And now this, a marriage proposal.

"Ah, uh," he began as his mind raced with a large sweatdrop on his forehead, "I'm too young to get married. And besides, wouldn't a Japanese man be better for you?"

Chie ponders in contemplation as she takes on a thinking appearance.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she finally said, then takes a lecturing manner. "Although you still have to be careful in this village."

"Ah, why?" As he grows uneasy.

"Because," Chie began sinisterly with a shadow over her face as her eyes turn solid white, " there have been people who slept alone and awoke in the middle of the night to discover someone having their way with them."

Axel blinks with a sneer as his irises shrink and multiple sweatdrops grace his head.

He is soon introduced to the rest of the class and his reason for being in that classroom. For much of the class period, they learn English with Axel there for them to understand. And even correct if there are mispronounciations.

The midday bell rings and class is out for lunch. Axel is sitting there eating an apple that was given to him by one of the students. He notes the gang looking at an empty seat with forlorn looks.

"Is something wrong?" Axel asked.

"Satoko's still not here again today," Rena said. "She's one of our friends."

"So I was told by Rika last night," Axel answered.

"It's because her uncle returned and is abusing her even as we speak," Keiichi fumed. "He claims that she got a bad cold. But we know different. Everyone around here knows different."

"And the police can't do anything about him?!" Axel snapped.

"No," Shion snapped in return. "In the past when her parents were still alive, she didn't like her stepfather and had called the Social Services on him, lying about him. And now, if she were to call, they would think that she is lying."

"But with everyone here knowing what her uncle is like," Axel said, "they can still have something done about it."

"That is also another problem," Rika added. "Nobody around here actually likes her because her own parents were for the dam that the rest of the villagers opposed. They were shunned for it."

"And for that they feel it's okay to punish a little girl?!" Axel scowled.

"We know how you feel, Axer-san," Keiichi said. "Yet we are powerless to do anything."

The door slides open and there stands Chie and the principal.

"I could go down there and see if Satoko will be allowed to go to school," Chie said.

"Anybody going with you?" Axel asked.

"Uh, no, but I don't think anything will happen to me."

"You still can't be too careful," Axel said. "Especially with someone like Satoko's uncle. Perhaps the presence of a foreigner might shake him up a bit."

"Very well," Chie said.

Axel is soon walking with Chie.

"How is it that you happen to know Rika-chan?"

"That is . . . well," Axel struggled to an excuse. "I heard of her through some guy who had been here. I believe his name was . . . Mayabashi Toyama. Ever heard of him?"

"I never heard of any man with such a name," Chie answered. "Given that they are the names of two of Japan's cities."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." And she fixes him with a whimsical leer of solid eyes.

They arrive at a house and Chie knocks on the door.

"Who is it?!" A loud coarse voice shouted from within.

 _No fucking way!_ Axel thought as he scowls intensely in a mixture of shock, fright, and anger.

"It's Rumiko Chie! I have come to talk with you about Satoko! Open the door!"

The door slides open and there stands Teppei, exactly as Axel had met him back in that other universe.

 _It's him! It's really him!_ Axel glares with disgust at Teppei.

Teppei glares at Axel, who expects him to recognize him. There is no hint of recognition in Teppei's eyes.

"What's this?" Teppei scowled lazily at him. "Is this foreigner your new boyfriend?"

"No, he isn't. He's a friend of Rika-chan's. I'm here to talk about Satoko."

"Satoko is sick! She's got a high fever!"

"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind letting us have a look at her," Axel stated dourly. "Or a doctor perhaps?"

Teppei sneers at him. Obviously not expecting him to understand Japanese.

"No!" He shouted more fiercely. "Satoko doesn't want to see anyone! Now fuck off!" As he grabs the door and quickly slids it across.

Axel is quick to grab it and force it open.

"You fucking," Teppei snarled, but is silenced by Axel's fist to his face.

Teppei staggers back and Axel rushes in, shoving Teppei all along the way. He punches Teppei again, knocking him back into the wall. Teppei recovers and punches him back, causing Axel's world to go spinning and is shoved to the floor.

"I'll fuck you up, you stupid _gaijin_!" Teppei roared as he straddles Axel while pulling his fist back.

Axel is quick to jab Teppei in the throat with his fingers, causing him to gag as he grabs his own throat on a reflex. Teppei ends up leaning back and Axel is quick to whip his legs up and push Teppei back with them. Axel crawls away and gets to his feet. He turns to confront Teppei and ends up getting tackled. Axel is quick to bear his weight down and wrap his arms around Teppei's neck to get him into a headlock. Items fall from their shelves and crash to the floor.

Teppei punches him in the ribs. A painful blow that makes Axel gasp with shock. Axel is quick to knee him, but ends up getting his leg grabbed. Axel immediately leans further over him while bearing his weight down more, so as not to get picked up and thrown to the floor again. Teppei places his hands up on Axel's chest and shoves with all of his strength, causing Axel to lose his grip and Teppei to slide out backwards. Both combatants fall backward and away from each other.

Axel is stopped by a countertop as he sprawls back over it, causing items to fall from it as he throws his arms wide to brace himself. He ends up clasping something on the countertop that is long and metallic with rings on the end. Without looking, Axel slips his fingers around it tightly to use as a weapon.

Teppei rushes Axel, who ends up lashing out with the object in question, plunging it deep into Teppei's throat directly alongside his larnyx. It is a pair of scissors. Hot blood comes spurting out onto Axel's hand, meaning a carotid arterty had been severed. Axel feels a sense of dreaminess overcome him.

Teppei's eyes widen and bulge with shock as his pupils shrink into pinpricks and ends up grabbing Axel's hand. Still feeling threatened, Axel fiercely pulls his hand free while thrust kicking Teppei. This action ends up doing more damage as a thicker wider arc of blood comes gushing out.

Teppei falls to the floor and tries to get back up while trying to staunch the wound with his hand, but it still pours out. He tries to talk, but can only make strangled gargling sounds. He continues to lie there pressing his hand against his throat with that look of shock with his wide bulging eyes and shimmering pinpricked irises.

He finally goes still as his eyes roll up and his hand slips free. Blood no longer spurts out, but continues to pool around his body.

Axel looks at the bloodied scissors in his now bloodied hand and looks at Chie standing nearby. She shivers with her hands pressed firmly against her mouth beneath her wide eyes and shimmering pinpricked irises. He notices someone else standing on the stairs. One of the young girls from the photos as she clutches her own head with her mouth hanging open with her eyes the same way as Chie's.

 _So she is Satoko!_ Axel thought.

Axel drops the scissors and staggers toward the door. His only thought is to get away as his mind feels as if it is stretching. Once outside, he looks around to get his bearings and starts running. Though he takes a moment to plunge his bloodied hand into a stream and briskly swish up the water for a few seconds in order to wash off the blood.

* * *

As all that was taking place, another violent incident had taken place back at the school where Shion wanted to go and kill Teppei. Keiichi, on the other hand, had stepped in to stop her and Shion threatened to kill him if he got in her way. He taunted her to do so and she grabbed a chair and ended up hitting him over the head with it, drawing blood.

Chie opens the door gasping and still bearing that same look of shock.

"Chie-sensai what's wrong?" Keiichi asked.

"The-There was a fight . . . between . . . Sawyer-san . . . and . . . Teppei!"

"What happened?" Shion asked.

"S-Sawyer-san . . . k-killed him!"

"EH?!" The gang shouted.

"Sawyer-san used . . . a pair of scissors . . . to kill Teppei!" Chie gasped. "And in front . . . of Satoko!"

"Where is he now?!" Mion demanded.

"H-He ran . . . away . . . ! I . . . I think toward's . . . R-Rika's house!"

* * *

Axel reaches Rika's place and climbs up the steps. The steps seem like a mountain now as his strength is close to being gone. He reaches the top and staggers to Rika's house, hoping that she had not locked the door. He hears someone calling his name and turns to see the gang running toward him, along with some adults in tow.

With renewed strength, Axel runs to the house and tries the door. It is not locked and this he feels tremendous relief over. Inside he finds his knapsack in a corner and grabs it.


	6. Chapter 5

Axel finds himself outside in the dark. He feels drained and sits upon cold hard planks. His head feels light and empty. As evil as that man Teppei was, he still feels guilty. He can remember the look on Teppei's face as he lay dying, along with the looks of horror upon the faces of Chie and Satoko. For Satoko, he feels the most guilt toward because that poor innocent girl had witnessed his deed. He wonders about the outcome of that universe.

He looks up at the night sky to see the moon overhead, then notices the building next to him and recognizes that it is the shrine. He also recognizes that his injuries are now gone.

Once he recovers enough of his strength, Axel takes out his flashlight and notebook. He checks the time to see that it is one A.M., and the date is Monday, June the Twentieth. He opens his notebook to the heading, Universe #4, and holds the flashlight in his mouth to write about it.

Upon finishing, he creates the heading, Universe #5, on a blank page and puts his notebook away.

Axel walks around the building and next hears the distant sounds of popping and cracking. The sounds seem to be coming from up ahead and down below. He walks forward to see the lights of Hinamizawa down below, along with more lights moving around due to vehicles as he can hear their engines even from that distance.

More popping and cracking sounds are heard. Axel gasps as he turns his flashlight off, as he now knows that it is gunfire he is hearing.

He turns away and notices something upon the shrine platform in the light of the moon. He goes to investigate and also notices a large dark pool glistening around the platform. He gets an uneasy feeling about that pool and is careful not to step in it.

Once he gets into a better position, he turns his flashlight back on for a better look. And suddenly wishes that he did not as he gazes upon Rika, naked and disembowled with her eyes staring up lifelessly. Axel quickly clamps his hand over his mouth to stifle his screams as his own eyes grow wider and bulge and his irises shrink to pinpricks. Tears flow down his fingers and he falls to his knees and shivers as his perception stretches thin.

He takes his hand away. His mouth wretched into a grimace as he sobs with each exhale. He reaches out to stroke Rika's hair. She feels so cold. He rests his hand upon her forehead as he nestles his face into the crook of his other arm and bawls into it. More gunfire is heard.

Axel eventually goes quiet, then slowly stands. His expression now wrathful.

"Who did this?" He hissed. "Who did this?!" Shrieking with rage as he whips around to glare in the direction from where that gunfire sounded.


	7. Chapter 6

Axel is faintly aware of heavy rainfall. He feels so weary and falls upon his buttocks as anger, sorrow, shock, and guilt storm within him. He looks up as the rain falls over his face, mingling with his tears. He places his hands to his face and howls his anguish into them, then lowers them and tilts his head back up.

He continues to sit there as the rain soaks him to his skin.

He looks ahead at the approach of bright lights and a car engine. As it gets closer, he holds up his hand while squinting to shield his eyes from the bright headlights. It stops before him and he finally understands that he is sitting alongside a paved road, the part the car is approaching upon.

The driver honks its horn, compelling Axel to stand, and dims its lights so that Axel is able to lower his hand and look. The driver door opens and an umbrella first emerges, then the driver as they push it up. The driver gets out and walks around the car and up to him to stand between him and the lights, using their umbrella to shield out more light so that he can now see that the driver is a woman with bleached hair.

"Hey, can you understand Japanese?" The woman called over the combined din of the rain and the car's idling engine.

Axel nods repeatedly, though slowly.

"Oh, good," the woman said in a tone of relief. "I was never good with languages. Come inside the car with me. You can put your knapsack in the back and you sit up front with me."

For a moment Axel is hesitant, but does so. He removes his knapsack and opens the back door, first tucking his flashlight into it and putting it into the backseat. Axel gets in the front as the woman does so as well while folding up her umbrella and puts it into the backseat. She next turns on the cab light to look at him. With better lighting, Axel can see that she is a beautiful woman with droopy eyes and a kind smile.

"Now what's a good-looking foreigner like you doing out here on a lonely stretch of road on a dark rainy night?" she asked. With the noise of the car and rain muffled, he could hear the soft musical twang of her voice.

"I . . . I got caught outside while hiking," Axel answered.

"Is that so?" She mused. "It looks like you're far from your destination. What's your name?"

"A-Axel. Axel Sawyer."

"Please to meet you, Sawyer-san. My name is Miyo. Takano Miyo. Now let's be on our way." As she turns off the cab light and puts the car into motion.

The rain continues falling hard, splattering against the windshield of which the wipers are working hard to dispel. Axel is unsure of where she is taking him, but he doesn't care enough to be concerned.

"So where are you from, Axer-san?" Miyo asked breaking the silence. "May I call you Axer-san?"

"Y-Yes, and I am from America. The state of Ohio to be exact."

More silence follows.

"Any reason why you came to Japan?" Miyo next asked.

"I thought of where to go hiking, but I really couldn't figure out where. I read a book about Japan a couple of years ago and got the idea to do it. So I learned Japanese to be able to speak to other Japanese as I went all over the country because just as you proved, not all of you know English. The plan was to hike all around the edge of the main islands."

"That's very interesting," Miyo mused. "You must've put a lot of effort into your planning."

"That I did."

"You also look like you were grieving," as her tone becomes more empathetic. "Did you lose someone dear to you?"

Axel leers at her. This woman can clearly read him. "I . . . I'd rather not talk about it."

"I understand. I too know what it's like to lose people dear to you." As he can hear a touch of grief in her tone.

They drive on in silence. The rain still falls hard.

"Have you ever heard of a village called Hinamizawa?" Miyo suddenly asked.

"Yes," Axel answered.

"And what do you know of its history?"

"That the villagers are supposed to have once been ogres," Axel answered. "Then a goddess saved them and made them human once again. From then on, they had to partake in a ritual to stop them from reverting back into ogres."

"Well that's one part of it," Miyo mused. "The truth is that they all carry a pathogen that can cause them to go insane simply by leaving or even if they become stressed out from something they feel is outside their control."

Axel knows that she is talking about the Hinamizawa Syndrome.

They are soon turning down a road. They arrive at a small house and pull into the driveway, where she turns the engine off. She reaches behind and takes out her umbrella and opens the door.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Miyo asked. "Grab your backpack and come inside the house. Don't worry I live alone and there is no man."

Axel blinks in shock for a moment with shrunken irises. This complete stranger of a woman is showing him so much trust! He finally gets back out into the pouring rain. He retrieves his knapsack and follows Miyo up to the house. She unlocks the door and enters, turning on the lights. Axel follows her in, somewhat hesitant, and she closes the door behind him, locking it. The house is small, of compact design with rooms that are practical rather than desired.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Miyo said casually with a smile as she extends her arms momentarily. "This is where you will be spending the night with me."

"I-I assure you I won't do anything bad to you," Axel said hoarsely.

"I know you won't," Miyo said with a smile. "Now get your shoes off and leave your knapsack and follow me."

Axel does so, and even leaves his watch. He checks the time to see that it is past ten thirty P.M., and that the date is Sunday, June the nineteenth.

Miyo opens a door and turns on a light, revealing a standard Japanese bathroom.

"Go in and take off your clothes, then leave them outside," she instructed. "I have to make a phone call to know if an event is going to be cancelled."

Axel goes into her bathroom and closes the door. He begins to take off his wet clothes. Peel off, more accurately.

* * *

"So what if I'm not alone," Miyo said into her telephone receiver dryly with a frown. "That's not the issue here. The issue is, can we proceed with the execution of Emergency Manual Number Thirty-Four or not?"

She sighs in frustration as she tilts her head forward while closing her eyes.

"I figured it wouldn't with that all rain falling, so what's it going to be like tomorrow?"

Her head perks up as she smiles with her eyes widen and her irises shrunken slightly.

"Perfect! Just keep him sedated until then. And the woman . . . ? What?" As she grabs hold of the speaker end of her phone with her other hand in outrage. "And you didn't think to sedate her too?!"

She growls as she tilts her head forward with a close eyed scowl once again while clasping her nosebridge, then releases as she raises her head once again with a frown.

"No, we don't have the luxury of time nor candidates," she snapped. "So we'll just have to make use of her. Be sure to cover up any evidence . . . Yeah, that's a good idea. Is there anything else because I really have to go . . . Okay, thank you, goodbye."

* * *

Axel is sitting on a stool as he washes his hair after lathering himself over. The sound of the door opening makes him gasp as his heart skips a beat. He slowly looks back to see Miyo standing there with a towel wrapped around her torso. His irises are shrunken and shimmering.

"What's wrong, Axer-san?" She asked warmly as she smiles down at him. "Are you shy?"

Axel continues to gape up at her.

"I'll take that as a yes." As she enters.

Axel sits there with an uneasy expression.

"Come on, stand up," Miyo crooned encouragingly as she gestures while walking up to him. "Let me see you fully."

Axel takes a deep breath as he closes his eyes momentarily. He stands and turns to face her uncovered.

"Oh my," Miyo cooed with admiration as her eyes widen and her irises shrink while looking him over. "What a magnificent specimen you are, especially down there!"

She then drops her towel, giving Axel a start.

"What do you think?" Miyo asked as she does a three sixty, showing off her shapely body with large breasts.

"Y-You look beautiful yourself," he answered humbly.

"You're clearly being honest," Miyo mused as she gazes downward.

Axel smiles uneasily.

"Sit down and let me wash your hair and back," Miyo said softly as she walks up to him and takes the washcloth from him.

Axel sits facing the taps as Miyo takes some shampoo. She kneels behind Axel, making her hot spongy yet firm breasts press up against his back. He can feel her hard perky nipples pressing into him. She begins stroking her fingers through his hair. Her touch is sensuous and gentle.

"You blondes have such soft silky hair," Miyo sighed as she gently lathers his scalp. "As you can tell with me, it's a bleach job."

"Ah, th-thank you, Miyo," Axel gasped.

She strokes his hair back and takes soap to lather up his back.

"Like fresh snow," she mused as she gently digs her fingers into his skin. "I can see why you people like to refer to yourselves as White."

"Ah, thank you," Axel said shyly.

"Axer-kun," Miyo whispered musically into his ear as she rests her chin on his shoulder and embraces him from behind. Axel gasps with shock as his irises shrink.

Especially when she clasps him down there.

Miyo tenderly shushes into his ear as she works her hand. Axel shuts his eyes as he arches back, resting his head against Miyo's shoulder. He grunts as his mouth tightens against the increasing feeling . . .

* * *

Axel awakens to Miyo snuggling into him. The movement of her hot firm yet soft smooth naked body as she presses her large firm spongy breasts into his side while draping an arm around him causes him to go hard once again. Along with the memory of what they did together in the bathroom, of which they carried over here into her bedroom.

She presses her lips against his throat, causing him to groan with delight. She kisses her way up to his lips where she gently pushes her tongue into his mouth, making it feel as if it is melting into his mouth. All while she carresses his swollen maleness once again. He returns the kiss in kind, and they break away with a soft wet click.

"Again?" Miyo sighed impressively and pleasantly into his ear, making him groan with delight. "But my jaws are still sore and my backdoor still hurts." A whimisical whine in her tone. "But I think I can still take you into the proper orifice again. And this time," as she rolls over onto her back, "I'll let you be on top. But I do want your tongue in there again."

She throws the blankets aside and they go at it once again.

* * *

Axel once again awakens to the memory of enjoying himself with Miyo, along with the awareness of her beneath him with his cheek pressed into her neck. He feels her nuzzle her face into his crown and kiss him. He opens his eyes and raises his head to see that twilight now brightens the room and is able to see her smiling down at him. She pulls him forward and kisses him, her hot wet tongue seemingly melting into his own mouth to send a course of pleasure through him. She pulls away with a soft wet click.

"Good morning, Axer-kun," she said softly with a smile.

"Good morning, Miyo," he sighed in return.

They release and get up with Miyo turning on the light and reaching for her clock.

"Six o'clock," she sighed and puts it back. "We have to get up, and I don't just mean your erection." As she playfully slaps his buttock underneath the blankets.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Axel asked as she sits up.

"I'm a nurse, remember," Miyo answered. "So I have to be at my job in a couple of hours."

"Very well," Axel sighed.

Miyo moves to get up and gasps painfully as she clasps her groin underneath the sheets.

"What's wrong?"

"Well," she answered with a playful sigh of embarrassment with closed eyes, "it's just that you're such a big boy."

"That's us White guys for you," Axel answered playfully with closed eyes as well, then gives her a playful leer. "Just be thankful I'm not a Black guy."

"Are you saying they're even bigger?" Miyo giggled.

"Personally, I've never seen it, but I've heard it a lot."

Both get up to reveal their nudity, along with the hickies on their respective bodies.

"Your clothes should be dry by now," Miyo said as she gets some clothes out to dress.

After dressing, Miyo leaves and soon returns with his clothes.

"They're still damp in areas, but you should still be able to wear them." As she lays them out on her bed.

Axel takes them and puts them on. He winces at the dampness of his clothes. They are soon dressed and emerge from her bedroom.

"It's going to be a good day today," Miyo said.

"Well that's good to hear," Axel answered.

"Where are you going to, anyway?" Miyo asked.

"I think I will pay Hinamizawa a visit before I continue my hike."

"Then, would you like a bite to eat before going on your way?"

"Okay."

Axel sees his watch on the table and picks it up to put on. The time is six thirty A.M. and the date is Monday, June the twentieth.

"It will have to be something light," Miyo said as she opens her fridge.

"Not a problem," Axel said.

As Miyo prepares a breakfast, Axel takes a moment to write in his notebook about the previous Universe #5, a rather short though tragic one. He fights to compose himself as he writes about it.

"Writing about your conquest?" Miyo mused playfully.

"What do you think?" Axel said whimsically.

"What's wrong, Axer-kun?" Miyo cooed.

"It's just that tough moment of when I left to come here," he sighed.

He prints out the heading, Universe #6, on a blank page and puts his notebook away. They eat a small breakfast of rice.

"That was pretty good," Axel said and downs a glass of juice.

"If you're every around this way," Miyo said. "Give me a holler."

"That I will," Axel answered. "Well, thank you for taking me in for the night. Feeding me . . . And fucking me."

"You're quite welcome," Miyo giggled.

"Can I have another kiss before I go?"

They do so, quite warmly.

"I think you better get going before we start up again," Miyo jested.

Axel nods sadly, then takes his knapsack, still damp, and carries it over to the door. He puts on his sneakers, wincing at the wetness still in them. He slings his knapsack over his back.

"Goodbye, Miyo," his tone soft and tender as sorrow wells up in him. "I hope we can cross paths again."

"Me too," she said.

Once outside the door, he closes it and starts walking.


	8. Chapter 7

"Miyo," Axel sighed as he stands there with an expression of having lost something important.

He looks around to see that he is standing on grassy ground near a bridge stretched over a river. Though more to see if anyone had seen him enter this universe. He does not see anybody else around.

Axel checks his watch to see that it is the afternoon and that the date is Sunday, June the nineteenth. He walks over to a picnic table as he takes off his knapsack, then takes out his notebook. Sitting at that table, he writes down what had happened in Universe #6. He finishes the way he always finished: printing a new heading on a blank page. This one being, Universe #7.

Axel puts his notebook away and puts his knapsack back on with the decision to cross that bridge. Once across, he continues walking onward. Along the way, he encounters a man who holds something up to his face. It then comes to Axel that it is a camera. The man lowers it and walks toward Axel, who is both frustrated and wary. Frustrated that the man snapped a picture of him without permission, and wary over wondering if that man had seen him appear. But a glance back shows Axel that the side where he appeared is out of view.

They meet up. The photographer is almost as tall as Axel yet more muscular, and wears glasses and is dressed in what looks like army fatiques.

"So sorry," the man bowed as he spoke in broken English, which makes it sound like he has a stiff tongue. "I was just caught up in the moment."

"You speak good English," Axel mused.

"Can you speak Japanese?" The man asked.

"Yes I can," Axel answered in such. "But since a lot of Japanese don't understand English, I learned it. And in your case, you seemed to went through a lot of trouble learning it as you might not have been around foreigners a whole lot."

"That is certainly true," the man chuckled.

"My name is Axel Sawyer." As he extends his hand to shake hands.

"Tomitake Jirou," the man replied with a slight handshake and a slight bow. "Well, Sawyer-san, how are you enjoying your time in Japan?"

"It's been interesting, I've been doing a lot of . . . traveling."

"Where have you travelled?" Jirou asked.

"I was traveling through the countryside, looking for a place called Hinamizawa. Is it down that way?" As Axel points down the trail.

"Yes, it is. I come here three or four times a year, taking pictures for a newspaper."

"Jirou-kun!"

Axel gasps slightly as his irises shrink at the sound of that voice. His irises shrink to shimmering pinpricks while gritting his teeth as Takano Miyo approaches them. The fact that she used that suffix with his given name means that they are close.

"Ah, Miyo! Great timing!" Jirou called back with relief.

The casualness of Tomitake using her first name without a suffix means that they really are intimate. Axel wonders if this guy also existed back in Universe #6 and was intimate with her as well. He feels a jab of jealousy and struggles to push that feeling away, understanding that this is a different universe and knowing that the Takano Miyo of Universe #6 is now beyond him.

Upon getting close to them Miyo looks up at Axel.

"Ah. Me. Not. Good. Engrish."

"That's okay, I can speak Japanese," Axel said. "So I guess I'll have to speak it, since you cannot understand English."

"Oh, that's good to hear," Miyo said with relief. "And what is your name?"

"Axel . . . Axel Sawyer."

"Axer . . . Sawyer," Miyo repeated. "And where are you from?"

"America. From Ohio to be exact."

They fall in step toward the village.

"So what brings you to Japan, Sawyer-san?" Miyo asked.

"Adventure."

"If it's adventure you're looking for, you should check out the Watanagashi Festival tonight," Miyo said.

"Watanagashi Festival," Axel said without it meaning to be a question.

"It means Cotton-Drifting Festival," Jirou explained.

"It's where the local shrine maiden, Furude Rika, cuts up a bail of cotton," Miyo explained, "and the people each take some and pray all of their sins into it. They next carry it down to the river where they put it into the water where it gets washed away."

"Interesting custom," Axel said, feigning ignorance from his memory of what Rika had told him.

"It's unique to Hinamizawa," Miyo explained. "This is a place where the ogres were said to have once lived until the goddess Oyashiro-sama descended and made them human. But the blood still flows within their vains and they could revert to ogres once again if they ever leave the village or fail to perform the Watanagashi Festival."

"Must be tough not being able to leave a place for fear that you're going to get violent," Axel said.

"There was a time, however," Miyo continued in a sinister tone, "when they cut up the intestines of their victims to float down the river."

"What?" Axel sneered.

"Wata can also mean intestines," Miyo explained in that sinister manner. "Anotherwords, intestines-drifting festival. The shrine maiden would disembowel the unfortunate victim alive and spread their guts out for the others to take and put their sins into it and let it drift down the river."

"Then I guess it's good that they changed that to cotton," Axel quipped.

They arrive back at the village border.

"We have somewhere else to be, Sawyer-san," Jirou said.

"It was nice meeting you," Miyo added. "Maybe we'll meet again tonight."

"Perhaps," Axel said.

They bid each other a goodbye and Axel makes his way to the local school. He starts wondering if he should walk into the village, given the reception he got back in Universe #2. Axel remembers Universe #4 where the villagers did not express hostility toward him, but it might have been because Rika was with him during that time.

As he walks further, the locals take notice of him. They don't seem hostile, but they do seem curious as to what a foreigner is doing out in the countryside. It must mean that the parasite is not as agitated in this universe.

Axel decides to take a chance.

"Excuse me," he said to a man. "But do you happen to know where Rika would be?"

"Rika?!" The man exclaimed. "Are you talking about Furude Rika?!"

"Yes, I am."

"How is it that a foreigner knows her?" His tone suspicious.

"I'm her penpal," he said. "We used to write letters and she told me about her home."

"Strange, we never heard of any such thing," the man mused suspiciously once again.

"That's odd, why wouldn't she mention me?"

"Anyway, she's in school now and class does not get out until five."

"Oh really, that's half an hour from now," Axel said as he looks at his watch, then turns and heads down another path.

He walks throughout the village and comes upon another building. One with a signpost by it that reads, Irie Clinic. That name makes Axel grimace slightly as he remembers what Rika had told him about the place being under the control of that Tokyo group.

"Oh my, Sawyer-san, fancy meeting you here again," Miyo said from behind him as he turns to regard her.

"Ah, I was just looking around the place," he answered. "I just noticed this Irie Clinic."

"I work there as a nurse," Miyo answered.

 _No way, she can't be with that Tokyo group_. Axel wondered.

"I see," he answered instead. "So I take it Jirou-san's off taking pictures again?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Quite the shutterbug then. Listen, would you happen to know someone by the name of Furude Rika?"

"Why yes I do, Sawyer-san. You know her?"

"As a penpal actually."

"You never mentioned that to me."

"How many children do you know with adults for penpals who show up out of the blue, Miyo?"

"Aww, Axer-san, you're such a brazen boy!" Miyo squealed with whimsical outrage as she takes on a chibi appearance of mock distress with hands to her face. "You may be handsome, but I'm committed to Jirou!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry," as he waves his hand with a close-eyed uneasy smile, "you know how casual we Westerners are with names."

That is when they notice a man walking from out of the clinic. He is dressed in a doctor's coat and has longish hair parted in the middle and wears glasses.

"Ah, hello, Doctor Irie," Miyo said to the man in question.

"Irie?" Axel inquired as he looks up at the sign.

"That's right, he is Irie Kyousuke. The physician of this clinic of which is named after him."

"Ah, Takano-san," Dr. Irie said as he walks up to them. "And who might this foreigner be?"

"My name is Axel Sawyer."

"Ah, you speak good Japanese, Sawyer-san," Dr. Irie said.

"Thank you."

"He said he's a penpal of Furude Rika," Miyo said.

"You are?" As Dr. Irie gives him a wry look. "She never mentioned having any foreign friends."

"Maybe she likes keeping secrets?" Axel answered in a matter-of-fact manner, then looks at his watch. "Anyway, school's almost out and I do believe that she's expecting me. See you around." As he walks away with a brief wave.

* * *

Miyo and Dr. Irie watch as Axel retreats further until he is far.

"He didn't mention Rika to me either when I first met him," Miyo said as she leans closer to Irie.

"You don't suppose he's from the CIA?" Dr. Irie asked worriedly. "It would be extremely bad if the Americans found out about our research!"

"No, he looks too young. And besides, if the Americans really did send a spy, their spy would have to at least look Japanese. But there is something about him."

"What do you mean, Takano-san?"

"I just have this feeling," as she pinches her chin while frowning downward, "that I met him somewhere before."

* * *

As Axel walks toward the school, he is greeted by Hanyuu as she appears before him transparent, invisible, and unhearable to all save for Rika and himself.

"Hauauau, Axer-san. You arrived."

"Hey, Hanyuu. Is school out yet?"

"Very soon."

"That's good to hear," Axel said "So . . . What happen after I killed Teppei?" His tone dour.

Hanyuu's expression becomes dour as she looks down.

"After you killed Teppei," she began in a tone to match her expression, "the Hinamizawa Syndrome got out of control."

Axel takes a big breath and sighs as he lowers his head and pinches his nosebridge.

"I know I am going to regret asking how," he answered, then looks at Hanyuu with a weary look. "But please tell me . . . How?"

"With Satoko's, she became obsessed with searching for her brother and one day vanished without a trace. This caused Shion to also come down with Hinamizawa Syndrome and ended up believing that the Irie Clinic had something to do with her and her brother's disappearance and broke into the clinic. She tried to take Dr. Irie and Nurse Takano hostage, but ended up getting injured and placed in a ward. Then Chie-sensai invited Rika over to her place."

Hanyuu sobs, seemingly unable to want to continue.

"What happened?" Axel pressured.

"Chie-sensai," Hanyuu gasped. "Hauauau! K-Killed Rika and made her into a curry and ate her!"

"Oh my God!" Axel gasped with shrunken irises as he raises his hand to cover his mouth.

"The police arrested her," Hanyuu continued sadly. "But with the Hinamizawa Syndrome triggered enmass, the villagers wanted justice and swarmed the police station. They dragged Chie-sensai out and . . . hauauau . . . left a huge bloody mess of her by the time they were finished with her! The villagers next went on a rampage, killing anyone they encountered . . . ! Until the army was dispatched to kill them all." Ending on a softer note.

"Oh God!" Axel gasped as he slaps his hand to his head, covering his eyes. "And . . . And all because I . . . I killed Teppei!"

"But in this universe," Hanyuu said in an upbeat tone, "Teppei has yet to return."

"And hopefully he won't," Axel added.

They arrive at the school just in time to see Rika emerge with Mion, Shion, Keiichi, Rena, and Satoko.

"You better go over and tell Rika to use a penpal story," Axel said.

He watches Hanyuu fly over to Rika and talk to her while the rest are oblivious to her presence. Shion points to him and the rest look. Axel walks up to them.

"Hello, Axer," Rika said in her child-like tone. "Nipaa."

Axel responds by kneeling down and hugging Rika tightly, pressing his face into her warm hair.

"EH?!" Her friends exclaimed simultaneously.

"A foreigner is hugging Rika-chama?!" Mion gasped.

"S-S-So bold," Satoko gasped as she clasps her own cheeks. "It looks like she knows him really well if he can hug her like that!"

"I'm sorry," Axel whispered into Rika's ear. "I'm so sorry!"

Axel embraces her for a bit longer, then releases her to stand and face the others.

"R-Rika-chan, who is this foreigner that you seem to know so well?!" Keiichi asked.

"Oh . . . that's right," Rika said in her child-like voice. "This is my penpal."

"Penpal?!" Rena asked incredulously.

"This is the first time we've ever heard of him," Satoko said.

"Oh . . . well, he's recent and I wanted to save him as a surprise," Rika answered innocently. "Nipaa!"

The gang are silenced by her cute manner. Though the skepticism still remains.

"Hello there," he introduced himself. "My name is Axel. Axel Sawyer. And you must be Mion-san. Shion-san. Rena-san. Satoko-san. And Keiichi-san." Pointing each of them out.

"What brings you here, Sawyer-san?" Mion asked.

Axel takes a moment to think. Understanding that each and every time he will meet them in a different universe, he will be a complete stranger to them.

"I came to see Rika-chan after that last letter wrote of something dreadful," he answered swiftly. "Something about someone getting hacked to pieces."

"Oh, that happened five years ago," Rena said. "It involved the Dam Wars."

"Dam Wars?" Axel asked, knowing that he had heard of it, yet wondering if it were the same in every universe.

"The government wanted to build a dam here in Hinamizawa, but the people were opposed to it because it was going to sink Hinamizawa underwater," Shion answered.

"Not all were opposed to it though," Satoko answered. "My parents were for the dam, and this got us shunned. Rika's family protected us because her father was a priest of the shrine."

"The foreman of the dam was murdered and his body was cut to pieces," Rena answered. "His right arm was never found."

"That's pretty gruesome," Axel sneered.

"So where are you from, Axer-san?" Keiichi asked.

"I'm from America, Ohio to be exact."

"Hehe, the good morning state," Shion chuckled.

"Will you be at the Watanagashi Festival tonight, Axer-san?" Rena asked. "Rika-chan is the shrine maiden who will be cutting up the cotton."

"I . . . don't know. Given that I may end up leaving at any moment."

Later that evening, the festivities begin in earnest. Axel moves around the grounds with Rika's friends as he casually eats takoyaki from a paper dish with the use of a toothpick. He feels relieved that nobody is making any hostile moves against him like they did back where he first met Rika and Hanyuu.

"Hey, Axer-san, are you enjoying yourself here?" Mion said jovially.

"Oh yes, and this takoyaki's pretty good."

"Be sure to try out Chie-sensai's curry, it's delicious," Mion answered.

Axel becomes hesitant, given to what Hanyuu had told him happened in Universe #4. Nevertheless, he does so.

"Hey, this is pretty good," he said to Chie.

"Why thank you," Chie beamed. "By the way, would you be interested in a-?"

"Ah, no, I am not looking for a Japanese wife," Axel interrupted with an uneasy close-eyed smile and a large sweatdrop.

The sound of a gong announces the beginning of the Watanagashi Festival in earnest. Everyone rushes to gather at the base of the shrine. Axel stands in the back. Given that he is taller than the men around, he can easily see over them. Attendants play musical instruments as the shrine doors open to reveal Rika wearing a miko outfit and carrying a large hoe. She starts descending the temple stairs and reaches the bottom where a bail of cotton is set out on a table. She twirls the hoe above her head, then turns to the cotton and starts hacking into it.

Axel does a double take upon noticing Miyo and Jirou sneaking away from the crowd to go somewhere and follows them. He follows them up to a building that is only too familiar to him. He watches as Jirou fiddles with the door as Miyo watches over his shoulder, then figures that he might as well go up there too and comes out of hiding. Axel also hopes that maybe, just maybe he will be able to return to his original universe through there.

As he gets closer, he can hear their conversation.

"Are you sure you can pick the lock, Jirou?" Miyo asked.

"I should be able to," he answered as he continues working on it.

"I can't wait to find out what's inside," Miyo sighed in an eager manner. "There must be treasures centuries old in there . . . ! Oh my, oh my, if it isn't Sawyer-san. Have you come to learn about the mystery of the Saiguden?"

"Ah, the Saiguden," Axel said as he remembers what it was called.

"Yes, the Saiguden," Miyo verified. "Supposedly, only Furude Rika may enter. Anyone else will be cursed by Oyashiro-sama."

"I got it," Jirou said as the latch clicks open.

"Would you like to come inside, Axer-san?" Miyo asked. "You'll be the first foreigner to do so."

"Fine," he sighed.

"I'll stand guard out here," Jirou said as he pushes the doors open.

Axel and Miyo enter as she takes out an electric lantern and turns it on. The doors are closed with a softer slam, causing Axel to wince back at it.

"If anyone does show up," Miyo explained upon noticing his reaction, "they won't notice the doors being open, now will they?"

"No, I guess not."

They turn around and Axel gives a slight start over seeing Hanyuu standing there, transparent and seen only by himself and Rika.

"Quiet," he said to Hanyuu.

"Yes, it is quiet," Miyo said, oblivious to Hanyuu's presence.

He next pays attention to the surroundings of the interior. It is filled with the same things that he had seen back in his home universe, including that huge idol that both Axel and Miyo walk up to.

"That is the human-made, sanctified idol that was set up out of fear," Miyo said in a sinister manner. "To bring the god into existence, they used curses rather than miracles. A god created as the fruit of blood and torture. That is Oyashiro-sama, Axer-san." As she turns to give Axel a playfully evil leer.

A leer Axel found unnerving. He is startled by Hanyuu as she starts stamping her feet.

"She's wrong, Axer-kun!" Hanyuu exclaimed with outrage as she continues stamping her feet. "She's total wrong! Hauauau! Hauauau! That's not what I do! I never curse anyone! Hauauau!"

"I am pretty sure that she does not do such things," Axel proclaimed as he walks up to Hanyuu, who is silenced, and briskly waves his hand repeatedly through her in the effort to get her to settle down.

"Oh really? What makes you think that, Axer-san?" Miyo mused playfully. "And why are you waving your hand around?"

"Call it a hunch," he answered as he turns back to regard Miyo. "And I thought I saw a fly."

"You also said, she," Miyo said.

"If that's of any indication," he answered as he briefly thumbs at the idol, then turns to face Hanyuu. "Furthermore, I say she's a very pretty little girl."

"Hauauau!" Hanyuu exclaimed while blushing and clasping hold of her own cheeks.

Miyo giggles with her hand over her mouth, then drops her hand. "My, my, you have quite the imagination, Axer-san. And quite the looks." Her tone turned sensuous and a playful gleam is in her droopy eyes.

Axel's expression tenses as his irises shrink over the memories of his intimacy with the Miyo of Universe #6.

"If Jirou wasn't right outside those doors," she continued in a more sultry manner, "I would be tempted to seduce you in here."

"Hauauau, that shameless woman!" Hanyuu shouted as she clenches her own now cherry red face and her eyes become swirls.

"Okay, I think your excitement of being in here has gone to your head," Axel said in a quick curt though humorously worried manner with an close eyed smile.

That is when the doors open and Jirou is standing there.

"Are you satisfied yet?" Jirou asked.

 _That sounded so wrong_. Axel and Hanyuu thought simultaneously with matching whimsical frowns with half-closed eyes and a large sweatdrop.

"Yes, I do believe I have what I came in here for," Miyo answered.

They leave and the doors are shut once again.

"Now let's get away before anyone else shows up," Jirou suggested.

"I'm going another route," Axel said.

They bid each other goodbye and Axel is on his way in one direction while Miyo and Jirou head out in another. They are soon out of his sight and Axel is alone.


	9. Chapter 8

It is still night time, but this time there is light coming from street lamps as Axel now stands on the sidewalk of a neighbourhood. Again, he is quick to look around to see if anyone had seen him. And again, there is nobody. He feels satisfied and walks up to a street lamp and checks his watch to see that it is ten P.M. and that the date is Saturday, June the twenty-fifth.

With the street light giving adequate lighting, he takes out his notebook and details the events back in the previous universe. Upon finishing, he puts it away and walks down the street, unsure of what to do next.

Action off to one side gets Axel's attention and he sees a door open on the side of a fancy house. A man emerges and sneaks up to the front of that house. He watches the man peer around the corner and stare at the front.

 _What is he looking at?_ Axel thought with bemusement as he does not see any one else on the property.

The man in question suddenly runs to the gate, opens it quickly, and runs out toward Axel.

 _Wait, that's Keiichi-san!_

Axel sees the terror and desperation in Keiichi's expression. They meet up, but Keiichi shoves him with such force that Axel falls down. Axel grits his teeth as he gasps from the strength of Keiichi's shove and the pain of falling onto the sidewalk. Axel gets up and stares after Keiichi with a bewildered look as he runs off into the night as if his life depends on it.

 _What the hell was that all about?!_ Axel wondered with one eye furrowed and the other raised. _And what was that mess on him?_

Axel stares at the house. It tugs at his sense of unease. The shadows upon it now seem darker and the light more faded, as if struggling to keep the darkness away. Against his better judgement, he decides to check out that house and jogs up to the door from which Keiichi had emerged.

He cautiously opens the door to a darkened interior. The feeling of uneasy grows stronger, as if something evil awaits him. He searches for a light switch, only to have his gut make him stop and take out his flashlight instead.

Axel shines his light around. He notices what has to be Keiichi's footprints leading away from somewhere, and starts following them. He follows them up a flight of stairs. Once at the top, he sees them leading from a room and stops as that bad feeling gets stronger. He quickly shines his light back down the stairs, as if he had felt a presence behind him. There is nobody.

He takes a deep breath as he stares at that room with the feeling as if something inhuman is about to attack him. He stalks up to that room and shines his light in. He gasps with shrunken irises upon discovering two battered bloodied people lying on the floor, along with blood splattered everywhere. Given that he had witnessed worse, he is not so overwhelmed with horror.

They are dressed in familiar clothing, but Axel enters to get a look at their faces.

"Rena! Mion!" He rasped as tears stream down his cheeks. "Keiichi . . . ! What have you done?!"

Axel shines his light around and sees the murder weapon nearby, a bloodied baseball bat, but refrains from touching it. He turns to leave, only to trip and fall, bumping painfully into the wall. Something falls on his head. Not large nor heavy enough to do damage, but still something to make him say ow. It is a wall clock and Axel notices something taped onto its back. He places his flashlight in his mouth and pulls off the object in question, along with a piece of paper. He puts the clock down and unfolds the paper to discover that it is a note printed in Kanji and reads it.

In it, Keiichi claimed a conspiracy of murder involving the curse of Oyashiro-sama. That a team had committed the murders with help from Rena and Mion. These conspirators also drove a white van and were responsible for Tomitake-san's death by using an unknown drug on him. The proof was in the attached syringe.

That last part made Axel wince with bemusement as he stares at the felt pen he had pulled off that clock.

 _Now I get it_ , he thought sadly. _He has Hinamizawa Syndrome_.

Axel shines his light back at the girls, wondering what sort of terror Rena and Mion must have been going through as Keiichi was bludgeoning them to death. Did they plead for their lives?

The muffled sound of multiple car engines outside alerts Axel to the window as he switches his flashlight off and jams it into his pocket. He sees a group of police cars down below.

"Ah shit!" Axel rasped as he hurries back to the clock. He does not turn on his light and instead uses the light coming in from outside as he hastily picks up the clock and sticks the note back on it. He accidentally tears off a piece as it sticks to his fingers. In frustration, he fumbles the clock back onto its screw. That is when he notices with greater frustration that he had forgotten to stick the pen back onto it.

He hears the sound of the entrance door being busted open.


	10. Chapter 9

Axel is surrounded by forest once again and is on a path. He looks at the marker in his hand, along with the piece of the note still stuck to his fingers. He removes his knapsack and puts them into it, along with his flashlight out of his pocket, and next retrieves his notebook.

He looks at his watch to see that it is eight P.M. and the date is Tuesday, June the twenty-first. He writes about his brief adventure in the previous universe. Upon finishing, he puts his notebook away and looks around to get his bearings, wondering which direction he should go in.

His question is soon answered as he sees a familiar figure up ahead, two actually, and hurries over to them.

"Axer," Rika said.

"Axer-kun," Hanyuu sighed.

"Am I ever glad to see you two," Axel said with relief.

"What universe is this to you now?" Hanyuu asked.

"Universe Number Nine. And what's with that large bottle?" As he takes note of Rika cradling it.

"This is just a ploy to deal with Shion," Rika answered. "She has Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"Just like Keiichi," Axel gasped, and he tells them about the previous universe.

"I just wish that I had been there with the treatment for it," Rika said dourly.

"Treatment?"

"Hold this," Rika next said as she hands Axel the empty bottle, of which he takes so that she ends up taking out two things: a spray can and a syringe filled with a yellowish liquid.

"What are those?" Axel asked.

"This is tear gas . . . and this is C-120, a drug that suppresses Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"It does?! Where did you get that?!"

"It was synthesized from my own blood," Rika answered. "Now let's go and pay Shion a visit. She's disguised as Mion by the way."

They arrive at the Sonozaki household, with Axel holding the bottle. It is an estate with a wall around it.

"So once I gas her," Rika said, "that will be your cue to subdue her."

"Gotcha," he said as he gives her the thumbs up.

Rika rings the doorbell and it soon opens to reveal Shion, now disguised as Mion.

 _I wonder if she has Mion down in that prison in this universe?_ Axel wondered.

Shion is startled by Axel.

"This is Axer Sawyer," Rika said in her child-like manner. "He's just helping me. Nipaa."

"Oh, ah, h-hello there, Axer Sawyer-san," Shion said as she gives him a bow.

"I came for the soy sauce," Rika said as she holds up a sheet of paper with lettering upon it.

"Huh? Oh right, the soy sauce," Shion said.

"I bought my own soy sauce bottle," Rika said as she gestures to it in Axel's hands, and she walks forward as does Axel.

"It's okay," Shion said as she holds her hands up, "just wait here and I'll get it for you."

"But I'm good at pouring soy sauce into a funnel," Rika said with a close eyed smile. "And besides, Axer can help me."

"Okay, fine," Shion said. "But he's going to be a problem."

"Why? What's wrong with me?" Axel asked.

Shion gives another start, obviously not expecting him to speak Japanese.

"Ah well," Shion began apologetically with closed eyes as she rubs the back of her head. "It's my grandmother really. She doesn't like outsiders and that's just the fellow Japanese who never lived here. But she absolutely detests foreigners. She lived through World War Two. If she were to learn of your presence, Axer-san, she'll end up wanting to chop you up and dump your remains down our well."

"I . . . see," Axel said uneasily as he looks to Hanyuu in the hopes that she has something planned.

"Rika, let me know when you are about to make you're move," Hanyuu said. "That way I can get Axer-kun."

"Okay," Rika answered for both Hanyuu and Shion.

"Fine," Axel also answered for both of them as well and hands the bottle to Shion.

"Follow me, Rika-chama," Shion said as she turns to go inside, and Rika follows. The door closes.

Axel waits. The seconds seem like hours.

"Okay," Hanyuu said quickly as she appears through the door.

Axel takes hold of the doorhandle.

"It's lock!" As he jims the handle to no avail.

"Hauauau!"

"Go tell her and go look for another way in and come tell me!" Axel quickly commanded. "Now go!"

Hanyuu is quick to do so, then flies off to look around. She sees a possible way in and quickly returns to Axel.

"I found it! Follow me!"

She leads Axel to a window.

"Hauauau, right here!"

He tries the window and it opens.

"Look inside and see if anyone's around," he said to Hanyuu as he removes his knapsack.

She does so and tells him that the coast is clear. Axel quickly places his knapsack inside, then crawls in through the window.

"Which way?" Axel asked as he picks up his knapsack, only to be immediately rewarded with muffled crashing and shouts of a struggle.

"This way!" As Hanyuu is quick to fly toward the source, forcing Axel into a run.

They arrive at a door just as he hears sounds of struggle inside and flings it open. There on the floor is Rika lying on her back as Shion is kicking her in the side. Shion immediately stops and turns to Axel.

"Oh ho, you got inside!" Shion said in a surprised tone. "I must say that's quite ballsy of you, given that you foreign guys have big balls." And finishes with a laugh. "Hey, I know." As Shion's tone turns disturbingly jovial. "How about I take you both down to my Fun-Fun Underground Torture Chamber and show you my carpentry skills. After I finish nailing Rika's joints, I'll nail you. Your big balls that is!" She laughs maniacally.

"You're not well, Shion," Axel pleaded. "Yes, we know you're Shion. You have Hinamizawa Syndrome. We can help you."

"Help me?" Shion said sardonically as she brandishes her stun gun menacingly. "You should worry more about helping yourselves!"

Axel uses his knapsack as a shield as Shion lunges at him with her stun gun. He swings his knapsack, batting her arm aside. Shion is fast as she jumps to one side and backs away from him. Axel continues holding his knapsack as a shield. He is quick to eye Rika still prone on the floor, not moving.

"I doubt she's gonna be in any shape to help you," Shion taunted.

Shion makes her move once again. This time grabbing his knapsack with her free hand, forcing Axel to let his left hand go so as to defend himself against her stun gun wielding right hand. She bears a broad demented smile as Axel scowls uneasily. Given that he is bigger and heavier than her, he has firmer footing. She feigns several jabs with her stun gun, causing Axel to lash out with his left arm in the attempt to either grab her arm or knock her stun gun away.

A sharp pain in his right thigh causes him to understand that he had failed to take her feet into account. It does not do damage, though it does knock him off balance. Searing crippling pain overwhelms him as he falls to the floor from getting jabbed with the stun gun. He struggles for his breath and finally gets it. Then experiences the stun gun once again. Shion is quick to kneel down alongside him and grab his shirt with one hand while pressing her stun gun firmly into his crotch, causing him to grimace with fear as his irises shrink to shimmering dots.

"Oh wow, you really do have big balls," she chuckled with a huge maniacal grin. "Now then, my ballsy foreigner," as her tone turns serious. "Roll over onto your stomach with your arms behind your back or else you'll have roasted meatballs."

Axel is silent.

"You got 'til the count of three," Shion emphasised with whimsical malice as her expression intensifies with a single furrowed brow while pressing her stun gun more ardently into his crotch. "One . . . Two."

"Alright! Alright!" As he can see the gleam of sadism in her eyes. "Just . . . Just let me turn over slowly." He begins to do so.

"But not too slowly," Shion warned as she keeps that stun gun firmly pressed into him.

The sound of Shion screaming as she takes her stun gun off him causes Axel to look back up in time to see her arch back and drop across him, dropping her stun gun. Rika is standing behind her with the syringe in hand, now empty. Axel is quick to get out from underneath Shion.

"I think she's going to be okay," Rika said.

Shion groans with pain as she attempts to rise. Axel helps her up.

"I'm sorry that needed to be done, Shion," Rika said. "But it was the only way to suppress your Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"Wha-What was that?!" Shion sighed with a weary expression. "I . . I felt like I was living in a nightmare. I couldn't control what I felt or thought!"

That is when her expression turns to horror as her eyes go wide and irises shrink to pinpricks as she gnashes her teeth. Tears stream down her cheeks.

"M-Mion!" She shrieked as she runs out of the room at full speed. "Oh my god! What have I done?!"

Axel grabs his knapsack and quickly follows as does Rika. Axel being taller with longer legs is easily able to keep up with Shion. He follows her to a familiar place where he waits outside for Rika and Hanyuu, who he soon sees running into view and goes inside. He goes down to the cells and sees Shion hugging Mion tightly outside of her now open cell door. He stands there watching the pitiful scene. Rika and Hanyuu are by his side.

"She had Mion locked up in this universe too," Rika said.

"Hau, I'm glad we prevented further tragedy," Hanyuu added.

Rika and Hanyuu finally notice that Axel is gone.


	11. Chapter 10

It is still evening, but now Axel is inside of a building. It is a familiar building, albeit smelly, and he finally realizes that this is the building where they hold school.

He checks his watch and sees that it is quarter to seven and the date is Thursday, June the twenty-third. The smell begins to bother him and he sniffs the air repeatedly.

 _Is that . . . gas?_ He thought.

He notices an extention cord on the floor leading from one room up to the classroom and he goes up and opens the door.

He sees children gathered in the center of the room lying on the floor with their feet bound and their hands bound behind their backs. Rika, Satoko, and Mion are amongst them. Keiichi is standing there, along with Rena bearing that huge machete with a long vertical tip running perpendicular to the blade.

Axel's presence soon gets everyone talking.

" . . . A foreigner . . . ?!"

" . . . What's a foreigner doing here . . . ?!"

" . . . Was he sent by the police . . . ?!"

"So, one of you has finally come," Rena announced in an eerie monotone as she begins stalking toward Axel.

Axel notices the look of madness in Rena's eyes. He glances at Rika and now understands.

 _Ah, shit! Rena's got Hinamizawa Syndrome!_

"Your kind came here centuries ago," Rena continued as she gets closer while pointing her weapon at Axel, "and left a virus to induce fear and worship. Then, you elevated the Sonozaki family into keeping control over the villagers."

"I don't think Caucasians were in this region of Japan back then," Axel said uneasily.

"No, not Caucasians!" Rena interjected as she jabbed intently at him, as if attempting to stab him. "Aliens!"

"What?!" Axel exclaimed in humorous unease. "I don't think aliens look like that!"

"Lies!" Rena shouted as she continues to point her weapon menacingly at him. "There are aliens with white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes! And you are one of them!"

"Rena, you have Hinamizawa Syndrome!" Axel said desperately with shrunken irises as he begins backing away into the hallway. He glances down at that cord and figures that it must have something to do with Rena and continues backing away.

"And how would you know of such a thing?" Rena accused as she stalks faster, causing Axel to speed up as well.

"I am human, just like you, but I have been sent through various universes," Axel admitted, hoping that the truth will get through to her. "I met you and your friends in other universes too. I even helped you in one of them!"

That seems to work as Rena stops to give him a confused look as she lowers her weapon.

"That's right, Rena," Axel continued with relief, "I am caught up in all of this. I thought I was going on an adventure, only it's not the adventure I was expecting. Just put your weapon down, okay?" As his tone softens. "Nobody needs to get hurt here, and nobody wants to hurt you . . . Just calm down."

Rena seems to calm even more. Axel very slowly moves toward her. He knows that he needs to be careful as a move too quick could set her off.

"Nobody needs to get hurt here, Rena," Axel continued softly with a look to match. "It's okay. Just calm." As he reaches closer to her weapon. "That's it. Everything's going to be fine. There's no need to get violent." His fingers touch the cold blade.

Rena's expression turns wrathful in the blink of an eye as she pulls the blade away from him. Axel is quick to throw himself backward to avoid getting struck. He falls to the floor.

"No!" Rena shrieked as she now towers over Axel with that demented look in her eyes. "You are one of the aliens and you have come to silence me!" As she raises her weapon.

Axel's mind goes numb as his irises shrink to despair. He faintly hopes that he will disappear into another universe before her stroke can fall.

"Rena!" Rika yelled from behind her, causing her to pause and look behind.

"It's over, Rena," she stated. "Keiichi's on the roof disabling the bomb even as we speak! You won't be able to move fast enough to light the fumes! Give up!"

"I don't think so," Rena said coldly as she takes out her light.

Axel moves and shoves her, knocking her down causing her to drop her lighter. He is about to tackle her when she swings her nata, causing him to jump back, and she is on her feet once again.

 _Damn, she's fast!_ Axel gasped inwardly.

Rena dashes into another room.

"Axer!" Rika said as she is by his side while he is getting up.

"Rika, am I ever glad to see you!" Axel exclaimed.

"You know this foreigner?" Mion asked as she comes up behind Rika, now sporting a bloody gash on her forehead.

"I'll explain later," Rika said. "Come on. We have to get outside."

They do so and the parents of the children are eager to hug and cry into them.

"Look!" Someone shouted.

They see Rena and Keiichi now on the rooftop in a dual. Axel is astounded by Rena's skill, and apparent strength as she is able to effortlessly swing around a weapon that she should not have been able to so much as lift in the first place. The duel goes back and forth, until Rena knocks the bat out of Keiichi's hand and he falls.

"Oh shit, no!" Axel rasped through gnashed as his eyes go wide and his irises shrink.

He watches helplessly as Rena lifts the blade and brings it down, only to miss. Deliberately. Keiichi gets up and hugs Rena, who returns the hug in kind. Axel feels relieved.

It is suddenly daytime and he is in the exact same place, only there is nobody around and the surroundings look to have been abandoned for a very long time, like back in the Prime Universe. He checks his watch to see that it is almost twelve P.M. and the date is Tuesday, June the twenty-sixth.

He wonders if he is truly back in his own universe and runs inside and up to the classroom. The door is open and he enters, only to do a double take at the presence of a woman staring at him. She seems familiar and is ill at ease. Like most Japanese, she probably thinks that he doesn't know her language and probably cannot speak English either.

"It's okay if you don't know English because I can speak Japanese," he said assuredly.

The woman's irises shrink and she walks briskly up to him and stares up into his face. Axel stands a head taller than the woman and he has to tilt his head forward to look down at her. That is when Axel's irises shrink from shock upon recognizing the woman.

"You," the woman gasped in a soft tone as she reaches up to touch his face with one hand. "It really is you from twenty-four years ago!" As she places her other hand onto the other side of his face and holds him firm. "You haven't aged a day!" As she ends in an intense tone.

"Rena!" Axel gasped.

"But there's suppose to be no such thing as aliens!" Rena gasped desperately as she digs her fingers into his face, causing Axel pain as he winces.

"And there isn't," he said as he is quick to grab her wrists and pull her hands away. He continues clasping her wrists. "I'm just as human as you are! But I am from another universe. I don't know how this happened to me, but I go through universes where I usually meet Rika. I've met you in other ones too. I even helped you in one of them."

"Who are you?" Rena demanded softly.

"Axel Sawyer. What year is it?"

"Two Thousand and Seven."

"So, I'm in the future," he said as he releases her hands. "Or more accurately, this universe's future."

He looks at the chalkboard and sees that it is clean.

"Is there anybody else in this village?" Axel asked as he looks back down at Rena.

"No. Although two more people are on their way here."

Axel walks over to a desk, where he removes his knapsack and takes out his notebook.

"I write about the previous universes I was in," he explained to Rena. "Like I am going to do for the previous one. So I need quiet to concentrate."

"Very well, Axer-kun," Rena said.

Axel stares at her for a moment over her use of that suffix for him. He gets to work writing about the previous universe. Once he finishes, he puts his notebook away once again.

"So tell me," Axel said as he is putting on his knapsack. "What happened to you afterwards?"

"I was taken to a police station and put there for the night," Rena began. "The next day, I learned that a poison gas leak from the local swamp spilled out and killed everyone in the village. I was the sole survivor. I was taken to Tokyo where I was placed in a mental institution for a time until I was well enough to leave."

"You have my condolences, Rena," Axel said empathetically. "That must be so hard for you to understand that everyone you ever knew in this village is now dead. Family. Friends."

"Rika foresaw all this," Rena said. "She predicted her own death, along with the deaths of others."

"Then rest assure that she lives on in other universes," Axel said as he clasps Rena's shoulders. "Just as you do too."

"I know," Rena answered softly. "I . . . I remember them as if they're fragments of dreams. In one, Keiichi murdered me. In another, I killed a woman who tried to kill me. I even remember you in some of them."

"That's good," Axel said tenderly as he takes his hands off her shoulders. "As for me, I could disappear at any moment. But you cannot tell anyone about me or else they will think that you are having a relapse."

"I know," Rena sighed as she looks downward.

The sound of a car engine gets Rena's attention and she looks out through the window to see a car driving up. She looks back at Axel, but he is gone.


	12. Chapter 11

Axel is now outside in the forest. It is either morning or evening as the chirping of circadas fill the air. He checks his watch to see that it is six P.M., the evening then, and the date is Sunday, June the nineteenth. He takes out his notebook and writes down the events of the previous universe.

Upon finishing, he puts his notebook away and begins walking through the forest, uncertain of where he is going.

Over time, the sun sets and twilight grows increasingly faint, forcing him to take out his flashlight. Axel is still trampling through forest. The sky is clear, fortunately, and the moon graces the sky as he can see through the tree branches. A warm breeze blows, making the leaves rustle.

Axel next hears the sound of a car as it stops and keeps its engine idling. He feels relief and starts walking in the direction of the noise, knowing that a road lies in that direction. There is dense underbrush and he has to tread slowly and push his way through. He can next hear the car driving away and it is soon quiet once again.

AAAAAARRRRRRGH!

Axel jumps with a gasp as he points his flashlight in the direction of the scream. He is quick to turn it off so as not to attract whoever, or whatever that may be. His expression is firm, though his shrunken irises and sweat betray his fear over not knowing what that was all about.

AAAAAARRRRRRGH! AAAAAARRRRRRGH! AAAAAARRRRRRGH!

The screams came again. Screams of terror and torment.

AAAAAARRRRRRGH! ARUUUUUUGH! URRRRRRK!

As they became more strained and turned to gurgling and began to fade.

And now . . . silence.

Axel listens intently. His imagination works overtime and starts wondering if it is some person or monster about to attack him.

It seems as if hours are passing. Axel takes a deep breath and turns on his light once again to check ahead of him, but sees nothing. And nothing comes. He walks in the direction where the screaming came from.

He eventually emerges to the sight of a clearing with a paved road running perpendicular and somebody prone near that road. He walks up to the prone person in question to see that it is a man, and a very familiar one judging by the way he is dressed, with an ever growing pool of blood around him.

Carefully, so as not to step in the blood, Axel approaches the victim to have a better look and gasps as he recoils with a wide eyed shrunken iris look of horror.

 _Holy shit! It's Miyo's boyfriend! He must've had Hinamizawa Syndrome_.

Jirou's blood smeared face is frozen in terror, made all the more terrifying by his bloodied torn throat with his equally bloodied fingers still dug into it.

Axel stands there for a time, wondering what to do next as he does not feel that his own presence in this world is over. He looks around and notices Jirou's bike and hurries over to it.

 _Now I get it. Whoever that was, dumped Jirou here while he was unconscious, along with his bike. But who?_

Light from one side, along with a car engine, gets Axel's attention and he looks to see a car approaching and come to a stop. It is a police car. Axel stands as as he wonders if they will jump to conclusions.

The car stops and two cops get out. The officers slowly approach. He can see the looks of concern on their faces.

"It's okay, I can understand Japanese," Axel assured them.

They relax and one of the officers approaches him. That officer looks to be middle aged and is short and portly with grey hair and wearing cream-colored pants with red suspenders and a black short sleeved button up shirt with a red tie.

"I am Detective Kuraudo Ooishi," the officer said as he takes a cigarette out of its package. "And you are?"

"I am Axel Sawyer. An American tourist."

"Please to meet you, Sawyer-san," he said and lights the cigarette, then takes a drag and puffs. "What is an American tourist doing out here in the countryside this late?"

"I was hiking and got lost," Axel answered, which in way was true. "And if it weren't for the sound of a car and the screaming that followed, my body would've been the next one to be found."

Ooishi looks at the bike and then at the corpse of Jirou. He walks up to the corpse and squats to take a closer look at it as he puffs on his cigarette. He stands and goes back over to Axel as he takes out his own notebook.

"It's not what it looks like," Axel said intently as he waves his hands slight.

"Oh?" Ooishi inquired. "You mean you had something to do with this man's death?"

"Oh, okay," Axel chuckled as he rubs the back of his neck as he gives a close-eyed smile of unease with a large sweatdrop. "Then it really is what it looks like."

"Did you happen to see the car and its driver?" Ooishi asked.

"No, the person drove away before I got here," Axel verified. "Then the next thing I heard was these horrible screams. I was so scared, I turned off my flashlight. I didn't move until those screams stopped, and even then it wasn't right away. I finally worked up the courage and went to investigate. That is when I ended up here and discovered him." As he points at Tomitake. "Then you guys showed up."

Ooishi ponders as he takes another drag of his cigarette and puffs more smoke. "I had received a report earlier that a woman's body was found burnt up in a drum."

"What?!" Axel exclaimed. "That's horrible!"

"Is there any place you're going?" Ooishi asked.

Axel ponders that as he looks up at the sky. "You wouldn't happen to know what the weather's going to be like tonight?"

"I believe it's going to be clear and mild," Ooishi answered.

"Yes it will," the other officer verified.

"Then it will be a good night to spend outside," Axel said. "I have done it before. Will you still need me here? I have told all that I know. I wish there was more I could to tell you."

"No, that's okay," Ooishi said. "Good night, Sawyer-san."

Axel nods slightly and turns to walk down the road. With the moon, he keeps his flashlight off so as to save his batteries. He continues walking, wondering when he will go into another universe.

He comes upon a turnoff and notices a sign written in Kanji. Hinamizawa, it read. He goes down that road, since he figures that he may as well disappear while walking toward there. Or unless, he is not finished here yet.

He continues walking. Up ahead, he sees a radio tower by the side of the road. As he gets closer, he can see a van parked alongside it. Axel passes the van, and is slightly startled by the presence of a man wearing a cap and work suit hunched over facing the entrance. The next thing he hears is the sound of clinking and rattling.

 _If he were maintenance, he would be down here during the day_. Axel thought uneasily as he leers side on at the man, though careful not to turn his head. _Better mind my own business and keep walking, but he's clearly up to no good though_.

Axel also gets a feeling that someone is scowling at him from elsewhere.

* * *

Up in the tower, a man wearing the same uniform as his comrade is staring down at Axel through a scope upon his rifle.

"The foreigner is walking on," he said into a microphone by his jaw. "He didn't even look, let alone stop."

"He suspects," a deep authorative voice over his earpiece said, "but is smart enough not to provoke a confrontation."

"Orders, sir?"

"Stand down. We'll deal with the foreigner."

"Understood." As the sniper lowers his gun.

* * *

Axel continues walking onward wondering what that was all about. Thieves maybe? Either way, he wants to put as much distance between himself and whoever that was.

He walks ever onward. Up ahead in the distance, he sees several trucks. He takes a deep breath and continues walking, not knowing when he will get that feeling that he will be moving on to another universe. The distance between himself and those vehicles grow ever shorter and he begins seeing more people around them.

Axel makes the decision to get off the road and go through the forest, circling around carefully until he is able to get a look at the trucks in question from his hiding place. He sees a man with long hair that is slicked back into a ponytail coming out of an RV like truck and speak to another man. They are too far for him to hear clearly.

Axel does, however, notice someone else standing in the doorway. A woman dressed in black. Something about that woman tickles at his memory. He gasps as it finally comes to him that she is Takano Miyo, and watches as the ponytailed man defers to her.

 _So she's in charge here . . . Something's going down, and it's far from good_.

Axel backs away carefully and disappears into the forest. He heads in what he believes is the direction toward Hinamizawa. At least he thinks he does.

He listens intently for any sound of human activity and is soon rewarded with such in the form of distant shouting and other noises, and walks in the direction of it. As he gets closer, he can make out figures moving through the trees. He sneaks up to get a better look, carefully crawling through brush to move into postion for a better look without being seen.

Axel spies men moving around the building that houses the school. Beyond them are more trucks, with men dressed in a uniform manner, many of whom are carrying assault rifles. He sees movement through the windows. More of those uniformed men moving large long objects around. Those objects send a chill through him. The men outside move away from that area and Axel continues to watch for a time, wondering when he will disappear once again.

He next notices a girl walking up to the building in a dazed manner, unbeknownst to the others.

 _Is that Satako?!_ Axel thought with bewilderment. _It is her!_

He watches as Satako peeks in through the window of that building. She next falls back and screams, alerting the others to her presence as spot lights fall upon her and shouting is heard. She gets up and runs away, with men pursuing her. The spot lights follow after her until they can no longer keep up with her.

With many of the men now gone from that area, Axel uses this opportunity to go and see what it was that she saw. Though he has an uneasy feeling of what it may be. He skirts around the forest's edge to get closer to the building without being seen. Once close enough, he emerges and already feels so exposed, causing him to idly wonder if he is about to get discovered like she did and be shot. So far no reaction.

He sneaks up alongside the building and up to the windows. He peeks in around the corner to see that no one is around. There are men who walk past the doorway every now and again. Axel takes a deep breath and looks fully through the window, knowing that he needs to be quick to duck away before somebody notices him.

He gazes upon the bodies of the people of Hinamizawa stacked upon the floor. Adults. Children. Some in body bags and some not yet. One of them is Rumiko Chie, their teacher. Axel stares at that mind numbing scene for several seconds and finally ducks away, not wanting to push his luck any further. He next stares up at the windows and due to the moon light, he notices what looks like strips around the window corners.

 _They were murdered . . . ! Gassed!_

Axel clasps his hand over his eyes as his mouth crooks and quavers. Tears stream past his hand.

"Miyo!" His voice a hushed sob. "How could you?!"


	13. Chapter 12

"Axer," a familiar voice called, causing him to take his hand away from over his eyes.

He is startled to find that he is now sitting within a house as he turns to see two familiar faces.

"Ah, Rika, Hanyuu," he sighed with relief as he stands while wiping his eyes. "I finally get to meet up with you two again! I just went through a previous universe where something tragic happened."

Axel tells them about it as he takes out his notebook to ready himself to write about it.

"So Takano Miyo really is behind it all," Rika said grimly.

"Aye, that she is," Axel rasped sadly. "And the people were gassed in that building where your classroom is."

"Hauauau," Hanyuu moaned her verbal tic.

The telephone suddenly rings and Rika answers it. Axel uses the opportunity to write.

"Irie was the culprit?" Rika continued. "Irie was the mastermind?"

Rika continues to listen and eventually hangs up the phone.

"Who was that?" Axel asked as he pauses in his writing for a moment.

"Kuraudo Ooishi," Rika answered. "The police detective you met in the previous universe, Axer."

"What's going on, Rika?" Hanyuu asked.

"I don't know either. I don't know but . . . I can't believe Irie is behind it."

"He's the doctor of the Clinic, Axer-kun," Hanyuu said to him.

"Does he wear glasses and have longish hair parted in the middle?" Axel asked.

"Yes," Rika verified. "Ooishi claimed that Irie was behind the deaths of Takano and Jirou."

"I personally saw Miyo alive and well back in Universe Number Eleven," Axel stated. "I bet she was the woman supposedly found burned to death in that drum by the police from what this Ooishi had told me. It's obvious Dr. Irie's being set up."

"I'm calling Ooishi back," Rika said as she turns to the phone and picks up the receiver. She dials the number and waits. "I got an anonymous phone call . . . Yes . . . There are people out there who are trying to kill me. They might be the same people who killed Tomitake and Takano."

She listens to Ooishi on the phone until he hangs up and so does she.

"Relying on the police should be the right course of action," Rika said. "But that alone isn't enough. I need allies I can truly trust."

That is when Axel notices Keiichi, Shion, Mion, Satoko, and Rena standing in the threshold.

"Rika-chan!" Keiichi stated. "Who is this foreigner?"

Axel stands and introduces himself, then names each of them.

"How do you know Rika-chan?" Rena asked Axel.

"That's," Axel began hesitantly as he looks at Rika. "Very difficult to explain."

"Then explain," Satoko said. "Like what was that phone call about, Rika-chan?"

"What is this about you being killed, Rika-chan?" Rena asked.

"What are you guilty of?" Mion asked.

"It seems we were right in coming over for a visit," Shion said.

"Rika-chan!" Keiichi implored.

"Keiichi," Rika said. "Do you still believe that fate can be changed?"

"Of course."

"I've never told you this until now," Rika said. "Because I didn't want to get you all involved."

"What are you being secretive about?" Mion demanded.

"Aren't we friends?" Satoko asked.

"Okay," Rika said. "I will explain it all."

As Axel continues to write about the previous universe, Rika tells them about Hinamizawa Syndrome, the truth about the Irie Clinic, and the group called Tokyo.

"It's only natural for you to not believe what I just told you," Rika finished.

"I believe you," Keiichi said. "It sounds pretty outrageous, but if you say it's true, then I believe you."

"I believe you too," Rena said. "Because I vaguely remember it. While I was at another school outside of Hinamizawa, I went crazy as well."

"You said Manager produced injections to suppress the disease, right?" Satoko said uneasily. "Could the injections I'm taking every day be." As she trails off with shock.

"Satoko," Rika said as she stands.

"That must be it," Satoko gasped as she clasps her own head with a frightened expression. "I think I remember something as well. I-"

"It's okay, Satoko," Rika said as she hugs her. "There's no need for you to remember. Even if one day, you will have to remember this . . . Today is not the time."

"Now what about you, Sawyer-san?" Shion asked him. "What is your involvement in this?"

As if right on cue, Axel finishes underlining the heading, Universe #12, for the next blank page.

"Since Rika was forthcoming with you all," he finally said as he closes his notebook, "I too shall be forthcoming with you all as well . . . So here goes." And straightens at the table.

Axel explains his origin and all that had happened to him. Being careful not to devulge too much detail of the other universes.

"That's amazing," Mion gasped. "Alternate universes!"

"I saw in the previous universe, the corpses of villagers stacked in the school room through its window," Axel stated intently. "I saw Takano Miyo overseeing that operation."

"That's another thing," Keiichi said. "Rika-chan. How does that connect with what you told us just now? Are they after your life because you know their secret?"

Rika tells them about her role involving the disease.

"Wait a second," Keiichi said. "Including us, the people in Hinamizawa are all affected by this disease, right? So if you were to get killed?" As he trails off with unease.

"Every single resident will develop the symptoms," Rika answered grimly. "And then, as depicted in the legend of demons appearing from the Onigafuchi Marsh, a terrible massacre will occur."

"Just like in my universe," Axel said.

There is stunned silence from her friends.

"With Axer's observations," Rika continued. "I do believe that Tokyo wants to cover up the origin of their bioweapon."

"Then if . . . if that's the case," Mion gasped, "that must mean that they . . . want . . . to." She stops over not wanting to express her thoughts.

"Use it against us Americans," Axel finished in her place.

"Wait, this only affects us Japanese people," Rena implored. "Right?"

"Normally, that's right," Axel answered, "but there's a branch of science called Genetic Engineering. It involves tinkering with an organism to get it to behave the way you want it to behave. Fortunately, it's much easier said than done. And since this organization, Tokyo, is made up of the generation that picked a fight with America, they are definitely still nursing a huge grudge against us. That means their scientists could successfully reprogram that pathogen so that it no longer targets ethnic Japanese, but instead make it target . . ."

He falls silent with a grim expression as he pats his own face.

"But that . . . that would be," Rena said quietly with distant shock.

"Genocide," Shion finished.

There is a moment of silence as it all sinks in.

"I got the gist of the story," Mion said. "I too believe that Takano-san is the culprit."

"The time of death mismatching the corpse just proves that further," Keiichi added.

"Manager is no doubt being manipulated because he is the type to be so," Shion said.

"That's mean, Shii-chan!" Mion whined playfully.

Everyone chuckles. Rika is silent as she seems overwhelmed with emotion.

"What's up, Rika-chan?" Keiichi asked.

"Truth be told, I'm surprised. I never imagined you'd believe me so readily."

"What are you talking about?" Keiichi answered dismissively. "What would we do if we couldn't even believe our own friends?"

"Just like you believed us," Rena added, "we believe you as well. That's all there is to it." Finishing with a close eyed smile.

The group speaks of strategy as Rika pours them drinks. The phone rings and Rika answers it.

"Hello . . . ? Ooishi, I'm glad . . . Please come over as soon as possible." And hangs up.

"Will Ooishi-san come?" Keiichi asked.

"It's okay to trust Ooishi and the police, right?" Mion asked.

"Yes," Rika answered. "But a lot more important than the police . . . I feel much stronger just having you all around.

As they wait, the gang have a meal.

"Thanks for the food," Rika said.

"Ooishi-san sure is late," Rena noted.

"Now that you mention it," Keiichi said, "it's far past the appointed time."

"Those policemen have been here since noon," Satoko said. "I feel bad for them if they aren't relieved soon."

"I wonder if something happened?" Rena pondered.

"Given with what we're up against, we have to," Axel said.

"Seeing as it's Oishi-san we're talking about," Shion said. "I think he'll be fine, but. " As she trails off.

"I'm going to see what the police outside know," Rena said as she gets up.

"I'm going to have to hide out of sight," Axel said as he too gets up and ducks around a corner.

They go outside and speak to the police on guard.

"What happened to Ooishi-san?" Rena asked.

"I don't know," the first policeman answered. "I hear he contacted the office at one point, but. "

"You should all go home now," the second policeman added.

"But," Keiichi objected.

"We will stay here, so don't worry," the second policeman said. "Your parents will get worried if you don't return home."

The gang leaves, save for Rika and Satoko. Axel comes out of hiding.

"It looks like you will be spending the night here with us, Axer," Rika said.

"If any of those guys do show up," Axel said, "I can slow them down."

The girls set out their blankets.

"I'll just sleep uncovered," Axel said.

"Everyone said they'd come again tomorrow," Satoko said. "We should prepare some sweets and stuff for tomorrow. It would be nice if we could cook dinner instead of having take out . . . Rika?" Noting her troubled look.

"Yes?"

"How about sleeping in our regular clothes tonight?"

"And in our shoes too," Axel added. "That way we can hit the ground running when trouble comes."

"That and there's a man in here," Satoko added sarcastically with a saucy smirk.

"Satoko, Axer," Rika said.

"Better safe than sorry," Satoko said. "Don't worry. I've planted three times more traps than usual around the shrine."

They turn out the lights and lie down to sleep. Axel simply lies at the foot of their sleeping rolls.

"Rika," he heard Hanyuu say, causing him to look up.

"What's wrong?" Rika answered. "What? Are you hungry?"

"It's almost time," Hanyuu said.

Axel watches as Rika sits up and looks distressed.

"It's okay, Hanyuu," Rika said after recovering. "I will fight. Even if I am to be killed tomorrow, I will at least fight against the fate of dying today."

"Hanyuu," Axel said. "When you said that it's almost time, does that mean they will soon be here for her?"

"Yes, perhaps minutes from now."

"Then don't you think we should be getting out of here right now?" Axel stated as he stands while putting on his knapsack.

"Yes. Yes, you're right," Rika stated as she too gets up and crawls over to Satoko. "Satoko. Wake up."

Satoko does so.

"We need to go now," Rika said.

Satoko is quick to get up as well.

"Don't turn on the light," Rika cautioned. "We're getting out through the window. I have a rope ladder in the closet." As she goes over to it and takes the ladder out. She hooks it to the windowsill and drops it outside, causing it to unfurl.

"You go first, Axer-san, then you, Rika-chan," Satoko said as she fishes around in her pack and takes out a hacksaw. "I'll go last because I need to sabotage the ladder."

They do as they were told. Satoko reaches outside and carefully cuts each rung just enough to break under the weight of a man. She comes down the ladder and makes it to the ground.

"I know where we should go," Rika said as she starts running. "Follow me."

They run into the forest. Behind them, they hear someone falling from the window. Axel glances back to see a man on the ground.

"Good think, Satoko," he said with approval.

"W-Who on earth are they?" Satoko gasped at Rika. "That Tokyo you told us about?"

"Probably," Rika answered.

"After what you told us," Axel admonished. "How can you still doubt it?"

"Just run," Rika answered. "If they catch you, you'll be killed."

"Where are we going?" Satoko asked.

"To Mii's house," Rika answered. "We should be safe in the hidden room in their basement, and we can contact the outside!"

Rika trips, causing Axel and Satoko to stop. They see one of the uniformed men running after them.

"Rika!" Satoko exclaimed.

"Run, Satoko, Axer! You both will be killed as well!"

Satoko takes out a bag of something and throws it at the man, hitting him in the face. A cloud of powder bursts out, making him fall down coughing and gasping as he clutches at his face.

"Let's hurry, Rika, Axer-san!" Satoko exclaimed.

"Thanks, Satoko," Rika sighed as she gets up.

Satoko stands between Axel and Rika and their pursuers. "Run, Rika, Axer-san!"

"You're gonna need help," Axel stated stoutly as he too stands side-by-side with Satoko. "You heard her, Rika. Run. Save yourself!"

"Axer, Satoko!"

"We'll take care of this!" Satoko clamored. "So hurry up!"

Axel with Satoko by his side watch as their pursuers get perpetually closer by the second. Rika suddenly walks past them.

"I can't," Rika said in a quiet though firm tone as she stares down the rapidly approaching men. "I'm such a fool. Despite knowing your true identity now, I still choose not to run. But I won't run away!" Her tone defiant. "Fate can be beaten to a pulp. There is someone who taught me that."

The Yamainu are struck down by Rena with her blade and Keiichi with his bat.

"Keiichi! Rena!" Rika exclaimed.

Two more Yamainu are taken down by both Shion, who uses a stun gun, and Mion, who uses a martial art move.

"Mion-san! Shion-san!" Satoko exclaimed.

"Are you three okay?" Keiichi asked.

"What are you doing here?" Rika asked.

"Rena said she had a bad feeling earlier," Shion answered.

"It felt like I was being watched," Rena explained. "I felt some sort of presence."

"I'm amazed you noticed," Keiichi said. "As expected from you!"

"Good intuition then," Axel noted.

"So we went to pick up some weapons and came back again," Mion said.

"No way," Rika mused. "I never imagined I'd get saved by everyone here."

"We were shocked," Mion said. "The policemen were down on the floor when we returned."

"What will we do now?" Keiichi asked.

"We were planning on hiding in Mion-san's house," Rika answered. "In the basement."

"The ritual equipment chamber?" Shion said.

"I agree," Mion added. "There are many secret passages down there."

"Then let's hurry," Keiichi said. "Our pursuers are catching up."

They run through the forest.

"A little further!" Keiichi said. "Hold on!" As he stops.

"Kei-chan, over there!" Mion stated as she points to a van pulling up on the road ahead of them.

"It's them," Keiichi said grimly.

"What do we do?" Shion asked. "If we take this path, they'll catch up to us."

"Should we beat the crap out of them and clear our escape route?" Keiichi pondered.

"I like that," Mion said proudly. "If it goes well, we'll even have a car. Leave the driving to me!"

"Do you have a license?" Rika asked.

"This is an emergency," Mion answered. "Don't sweat the small stuff!"

"But we need to be quick," Axel said. "Or else they'll take refuge in their van before we can get them."

Satoko laughs haughtly. "This is a great idea!"

"With that decided, let's do it!" Keiichi stated.

They split up and go into the forest. Rika rushes out to get the attention of one of the Yamainu.

"Target sighted! Seize her!"

He gives chase only to get sucker punched by Axel. Rena follows up by hitting the Yamainu with her blade. Another Yamainu rushes them, only to get elbowed in the face by Axel, and then get struck by Keiichi.

"Good work, guys!" Axel said.

"Rena, you didn't kill him, did you?" Keiichi asked.

"Don't worry," she said as she holds up the blade. "I'm hitting with the blunt end."

"Yeah, the sharp end looks like it can take off a limb or head," Axel noted wryly, as he remembers facing her with that blade in Universe #10.

The gang continues to disable the Yamainu.

"Looks like we finished them off," Satoko said.

"That was pretty easy," Keiichi said proudly.

"A little too easy," Axel muttered.

"It's because we all fought together," Rena said. "It was seven versus six. If we had lacked even one person, I don't think we would've made it."

"Exactly," Rika said. "If we combine our strength, I'm sure we can defeat fate."

They sneak up to the van to see two more men with guns.

"Looks like they're pros," Keiichi said. "Did those earlier guys regain consciousness already?"

"That's all they got?" Mion scoffed. "We have the advantage."

"I don't know something doesn't feel right," Axel said warily.

"But if we all go together, Axer," Rika said. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Axel looks down at her with a trouble expression as he still has that troubled feeling.

"Here we go," Keiichi said and leads the charge, causing the others to follow suit. Axel is somewhat hesitant.

Axel sees a figure dressed in black up ahead point something. He is about to yell a warning when a shot is fired from that figure in black. Keiichi falls backward as he drops his bat.

"Keiichi!" Rika shouted, and next looks to see who fired that shot. "Takano!"

Axel glowers at Takano for the moment, then kneels down with the others to look at Keiichi. He sees the blood pouring out of a hole in Keiichi's chest. It looks like it is where his heart is.

"Kei-chan! Don't die!" Mion cried.

Keiichi coughs up blood. "S-Sorry," he groaned. "I'll have to retire . . . Everyone . . . Hurry up and run!"

"No!" Mion cried. "This can't be happening! You can't die like this!"

Axel closes his eyes as he hangs his head.

"Girls," he next said, then stands to glare at Miyo. "Get out of here."

"Axer-kun," Rena gasped.

"I feel my time in this universe is about to come to an end," Axel stated. "If I should be injuried, then I'll regenerate when I enter the next one. Rika," looking to her next, "hopefully I'll run into you in the next universe so that I can tell you about what has happened." Then looks ahead once again. "Now run!"

"Everyone!" Rena stated. "We're going! Just focus on surviving right now! Keiichi-kun can't be wishing for us to stay here. And neither does Axer-kun. Everyone, run!" Ending with a scream as she runs, causing the rest of the girls to do so.

The girls run off as Axel glares defiantly at Miyo.

"Miyo!" He called as he walks forward. "Hey, Miyo! You broke my heart, lover!"

"Eh?" Miyo quipped as she lowers her gun and takes on a quizzical look. "Do I know you, foreigner?"

"It was in another universe on a rainy night on the side of a road where you picked me up, took me back to your place, and seduced me!"

Miyo's expression twists into a more intense quizzical expression as a large sweatdrop graces her forehead. The other Yamainu also have puzzled expressions.

"Then again," Axel called dryly, "I probably have Hinamizawa Syndrome!"

Miyo scowls and raises her gun, then fires.

Axel screams in agony from the horrific pain as he covers the wound on a reflex after the bullet had torn a hole through his chest, breaking bone and puncturing a lung on its way out through his back. He rasps a scream as he stumbles backward and is quick to catch himself.

He looks to one side and gritting through the terrifying pain he runs into the brush, ever expecting another bullet to come his way. He crashes through thick brush and falls.


	14. Chapter 13

Axel gasps with fright as he rapidly gets back up onto his feet. He calms and discovers that it is daytime and that he is behind the shrine. He looks down at his chest to see a bloody hole in his shirt just inches from his heart. He fingers that hole only to touch smooth skin, then looks at his hand to see his own blood on it. He spits on his hands and rubs them together in the attempt to wash the blood off. Since blood clots, it rolls off in tiny spindles. He next briskly dusts his hands to get most of the blood off.

With a sigh, he takes off his knapsack and discovers that it too has a bloody hole in it. He looks over his shoulder as he pulls the fabric of his shirt forward to see another bloody hole in the back of his shirt. He examines the knapsack, but that bullet hole is the only hole in it. A search inside of it yields the bullet of which he takes out to examine closely. It is mashed from hitting his bones.

Axel takes out the rest of his stuff to examine and is surprised to find nothing else damaged. He uses his waterbottle to wash his hands, then pulls out a handkerchief to dry his hands off in. After finishing with it, he tucks it back into his pocket instead of back into his knapsack.

He next takes out his notebook and looks at his watch. It is one thirty P.M., and the date is Thursay, June the ninth.

Upon finishing, Axel puts it away and walks around to the front. He gasps with shrunken irises and gritted teeth upon seeing Miyo coming up the stairs, and immediately pulls back before she can see him. Still, he carefully peeks around the corner to watch Miyo stop before the offering box to stare intently at it while holding up a yen coin.

"If I didn't have that ten yen coin back then," he heard her say. "I'm grateful to you for that at least."

He watches as she tosses the coin into the offering box. He is next astonished to watch it suddenly stop before it could land onto it and fly back up to bounce off Miyo's bosom and clatter to the flooring. Axel next notices Hanyuu now standing on the other side of the box, glowering up at Miyo.

"So you are the resident god here," Miyo said.

"A strong will strengthens fate," Hanyuu said.

"That's right," Miyo agreed.

"An unwavering, confident heart can crush any kind of fate," Hanyuu continued.

"Exactly," Miyo agreed, then giggles.

"I finally understand," Hanyuu said. "This fate that could never be averted no matter how often we tried was the power of your unyielding will. I will not lose to you!" Her tone defiant. "Someone taught me something. The power of belief will give rise to a miracle that will cut through fate. We will not lose to the power of your will!"

Miyo laughs mockingly.

"Fine! Bring it on then!" Miyo next proclaimed arrogantly. "I'll show you whose mind is the strongest. I will not yield an inch of my future! You stupid brat! I will drag your ass off your divine pedestal!"

"And your ass will be dragged before an American court!" Axel snarled as he rounds the corner and stalks up to Miyo, causing her to wince up at him with shock.

"Axer-kun!" Hanyuu gasped.

"Hey there, Hanyuu," he said as he gives her a relieved look.

"Hau, you've been shot," Hanyuu gasped.

"And I regenerate whenever I enter other universes, remember?" Axel said as he fingers the hole. "But more importantly . . . you finally know who's behind all this." As he glares back down at Miyo.

"Absolutely," Hanyuu agreed.

"Takano Miyo," Axel growled down into her face. "You don't know me, but I do know you. I have traveled through other universes and met you in some of them. In the previous one, you were about to have Hinamizawa laid to waste. I, along with Rika and her friends, were being hunted by your Yamainu. You shot and killed one of her friends, then shot me next." He fingers the hole in his shirt.

"Alternate universes, eh?" Miyo mused. "Then again, given her existence," with a glance down at Hanyuu, "I have no reason to disbelieve you."

"Have you people forgotten America's wrath already?" Axel asked incredulously. "Oh, they won't need to nuke you, but they can still make things miserable for your country."

"So you're American I take it?" Miyo said haughtily.

"Yes," Axel verified.

"Then by the time your nation learns of it," Miyo retorted coldly, "it will be far too late for them to take any sort of action."

"There's also the rest of the Western world to consider," Axel stated. "Trying to re-engineer the parasite that causes Hinamizawa Syndrome?! That's pure madness! This Tokyo group won't get away with this!"

"You Caucasians," Miyo said snidely. "You've become so powerful that fate is like modeling clay to your kind. The rest of humanity just can't seem to achieve anything of its own design."

"Jealous?" Axel said sarcastically.

"The power of belief will give rise to a miracle that will cut through fate," Miyo quoted as she looks down at Hanyuu, then back up at Axel. "That just means I will bring about the miracle to end your race's dominance," her tone arrogantly casual, "even if it means your extinction. A pity really because many of your kind are sexy, like you for example." Her tone mockingly sultry.

"Axer-kun, she's only taunting you," Hanyuu stated. "Look." As she points past him.

Axel looks down the stairs to see four glaring men wearing uniforms he immediately recognizes as Yamainu as they quickly approach the base of the stairs. He closes his eyes and growls a sigh, then opens them and glares down at Miyo.

"We will defeat you," he said with quiet defiance, then regards Hanyuu. "And hopefully, I'll see you soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel my time here growing short."

Axel turns and walks away, then rounds the corner. Miyo follows after him, only to find him gone.


	15. Chapter 14

Axel gasps as he suddenly finds himself now standing before Rika, Hanyuu, Mion, Rena, Keiichi, and Satoko. He is also within the room full of prison cells, just like in Universe #1. Their expressions are of intense astonishment as they gape with their irises shrunken to pinpricks.

"Axer!" Both Rika and Hanyuu exclaimed as they run up to Axel.

"Rika! Hanyuu!" Axel said as he kneels to hug them. "What the?! Hanyuu, you're solid!" As he clasps her shoulder

"Hauauau, is that a gunshot wound?" Hanyuu whined.

"Yes, Miyo gave it to me. But as you can see, I regenerated when I entered the previous universe. You were there Hanyuu, and Miyo was taunting you."

Axel looks up at the rest of her friends as they are still standing there gaping with shock.

"R-Rika," Keiichi gasped in a bewildered tone. "W-Who is this?!"

"A-And h-how d-did h-he appear out of th-thin air like that?!" Satoko gasped.

"Axer," Rika said. "Introduce yourself."

Axel does so and tells them what is going on.

"An alternate universe?!" Mion gasped.

"This is Universe Number Fourteen for me," Axel said. "I know that you are Mion, Rena, Keiichi, and Satoko. The reason I know your names is because I met each of you in several other universes. Rika, do they know the truth about Takano Miyo?"

"Yes, I explained everything to them," Rika answered.

"That's great," Axel said, then looks to the group. "Whatever she told you about Takano Miyo is true. She is attempting to have the whole village killed off with the help of the Yamainu. They are being sponsored by a group called Tokyo, who wish to make a bioweapon out of the parasite that causes Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"I-It's just like Rika said!" Rena gasped. "And . . . And even though this is the first time I have met Axer-san . . . it-it's like I know him!"

"Eh?! You too?!" Keiichi exclaimed.

"I know what she means!" Mion gasped. "I seem to remember seeing him somewhere before!"

"Me too!" Satoko added. "So does that mean we also exist in other universes?"

"Yes, you all do," Axel answered, then holds up his hand. "But that's all you need to know."

The gang exchange troubled looks.

"That fact that you all remember traces of the other universes," Rika said, "means that all of you can focus your knowledge into defeating Takano."

"So Miyo's yet to make her move I take it?" Axel asked.

"That's right, we're making our move first," Rika answered. "And we have a plan."

"So what's the plan?" Axel asked.

Rika explains it.

"That's pretty clever," Axel mused. "I just hope I'm able to help and not be sent into the next universe."

"If you do," Hanyuu said, "then it may be your home universe because it's over if we fail in this one."

"So no more being resurrected into another universe for you, then," Axel noted grimly without it meaning to be a question.

"No," Rika said sadly as she looks down.

Axel next looks down at his shirt and fingers the bloodied hole.

"I'm gonna have to change my shirt," he said as he removes his knapsack. He opens it and looks around inside. "Here's the bullet that went through me." As he takes it out and shows it off.

He goes back to searching around and takes out a shirt. It is also long-sleeved, but is a grey Henley shirt. He takes off his shirt and folds it up to put away.

"I can see why they refer to themselves as White," Mion mused with a smile.

"Hauu! What cute pink nipples!" Rena squealed delight as she wriggles while clutching her hands together. "I wanna take them home!"

"Argh, wha-what are you doing?!" Axel shouted in pain as he grabs hold of Rena's wrists as she tugs upon his nipples. "Stop that! It hurts!"

She finally lets go and Axel rubs them. "Sheesh, what the hell was that?!"

"Rena-chan has a habit of trying to take cute things or people home with her," Keiichi sighed.

"Hauauau, I know what that's like," Hanyuu whined.

Axel packs his shirt away and puts on his new one. He next takes out his notebook.

"I take note of each universe I was in and make a heading for another," he explained. "So what is going on as of this moment?"

"We are going to be watching the monitors as there are cameras around the place outside," Mion answered.

They head into the control room where there are a dozen monitors that show a different view of the grounds. Axel checks his watch to see that it is morning and the date is Sunday, June the nineteenth. He writes about the previous universe. Upon finishing, he puts it back into his knapsack, which he in turn places in a corner.

"Mii-chan!" Rena announced frefully. "A car arrived!"

On the monitor, Axel can see a black sedan pull up.

"This is Kasai-san's car," Mion answered. "It's probably Shion. She likely came to hang out for the festival today. She really can't read an atmosphere."

Axel watches as both the driver and back door open. Out of the driver's side is a big man dressed in a black business suit and wearing sunglasses, while Shion comes out of the back. They help someone from out of the back.

"I met that guy before in another universe," Axel said as he points at the man in white on screen. "What was his name again?"

"Irie Kyosuke!" Mion exclaimed, and she turns to run, prompting Axel, Keiichi, and Rena to follow.

They hurry all the way out to the gates where Shion and Kasai are helping Irie inside.

"Manager!" Mion exclaimed.

"Sorry," Irie gasped. "Tomitake-san has been caught by the Yamainu. They chased after me when I ran away, and I ended up having an accident. Uh . . . Who is this foreigner?"

"My name's Axel Sawyer and I'm a friend of Rika's from America. I only just showed up, but I understand the situation and will help in any way I can."

The sounds of vehicles are next heard pulling up.

"You were being followed after all!" Mion shouted. "Stupid Shion!"

"We weren't being followed!" Shion bellowed back. "Stupid Sis!"

"Anyway, let's go inside," Kasai said.

The group run all the way back to the underground place.

"Hey, hey, Sis," Shion said to Mion. "How is it that Rika-chan knows a foreigner?"

"Ah . . . Well," Mion gasped with humorously uneasy. "He just showed up out of the blue. Frankly, we never even knew about him at first."

"Well, he is pretty hot," Shion said mischievously. "But I get the feel that I seen him somewhere before. I think it was in a dream I had. In it, I was attempting to rape him." As her eyes go wide with shrunken pupils and a cat smile.

"Argh, does being in an all-girl's school put you in heat a lot?!" Mion groaned irritably as she lowers her head.

They hurry back to the underground place where Mion locks the double doors. There is soon pounding heard upon it.

"Will it hold?" Rena asked.

"I don't think it can be broken down easily," Kasai answered, "but they seem to be professionals. We shouldn't place too much trust in it."

"Anyway, let's head further in!" Keiichi said.

"Yes, okay, okay!" Shion said flippantly. "I'm about to reach the climax without ever knowing the situation! Okay!"

"Oh, geez!" Mion exclaimed with exasperation. "If you gave me five minutes, I could explain everything to you!"

As they head back to the monitor room, Mion explains the situation to Shion.

"Is everyone okay?" Rika asked as she, along with Hanyuu and Satoko are kneeling side-by-side while looking at the monitors.

"Hauauau, as far as we can tell, there are about thirty enemies outside," Hanyuu said.

"That many?!" Keiichi gasped. "They're serious!"

Mion walks up to a monitor and reaches out to it. "Gonna change it for a bit," she does so to show a different scene and chuckles. "They're at a standstill."

"Sis? Whatever the circumstances are," Shion said with a touch of sarcasm, "doesn't this situation more than justify a call to the police?"

"Doesn't it?" Mion answered back also with a touch of sarcasm. "I'd forgotten about our very first civil right."

Mion makes the call, only to tap its cut-off bar.

"Let me guess, they cut the lines," Axel said dryly.

The electricity goes out, plunging them into total darkness.

"They probably cut all of the cables," Kasai said as he lights his lighter.

"They struck the weak point of an underground hideout," Rena said.

"Even so," Mion said as she turns on an electric lamp, "as long as they don't use any explosives on that door, we won't be beaten that easily. Besides, if they make an explosion in broad daylight that will no doubt call out the police for us."

"Manager, you were in the organization committee for the Watanagashi Festival, right?" Satoko asked fretfully. "When will the decision be made whether or not to cancel the festival due to rain?"

"If I remember correctly," Irie answered, "at ten A.M. with fireworks."

"Hauauau," Hanyuu whined. "Are they going to mingle with that sound to-"

A muffled explosion gets their attention.

"Come on!" Mion exclaimed as she runs off, prompting the rest to follow her.

They arrive at an open cell.

"Go in!" Mion commanded, and they do so. They end up looking down into a pit with a ladder attached to it. The steps are carved into the rock, but with rails on the side fastened into the rock as well.

"Do we have to descend this?" Keiichi asked.

"You'll come across a tunnel on the way down," Mion said. "If you follow that tunnel, you can reach an old well in the mountains."

"Meaning, you are the most familiar with the path, so you will lead," Shion said. "Who else is there to do it? Me and Kasai will guard the rear."

"Wh . . . Do you know what your getting yourself into?!" Mion demanded.

"I do!" Shion stated intently.

"Okay," Mion answered, and turns to descend the ladder.

"Mion-san," Kasai said. "The key to the armory."

Mion hands over the key and goes down the ladder.

"Okay!" From down at the bottom. "Rika-chan, you come down first!"

Rika begins descending the ladder and almost slips.

"Rika!" Axel exclaimed with fright.

"I'm fine," she called back up, and continues her descent in silence.

"Okay, I've reached the bottom," Rika called back up.

Another explosion gets their attention again. This one a little louder.

"Okay, how's this?" Axel suggested quickly. "Hanyuu, Satoko, Rena, Dr. Irie, Keiichi, then me?"

"Hauauau, as good a plan as any," Hanyuu said and she is next to go down.

One-by-one, each go down in the order Axel suggested until he is last and readies to go down.

"Stay calm so you don't fall," Shion said to Axel. "Rumor has it that over the generation, this bottomless well was used as a dump for corpses of those who opposed the Sonozaki family."

"Thank you for that wonderful image," Axel said sarcastically, then turns respectful. "And good luck to the both of you."

"Don't worry," Shion said. "Good women don't die."

Axel blinks absently over that remark as he remembers her actions in Universes #1 and 9. Axel carefully descends the ladder, gripping the railings on either side firmly as he places one foot into a hollowed out crevice, then the other.

"They could've had a better ladder," Axel grumbled.

He keeps this up for what seems like minutes until he feels his foot touch ground. He turns to smile at the others.

Another explosion occurs, this one much louder and with a bright flash. Gunfire is next heard.

"Stupid Shion!" Mion cried back up. "Hurry up and come down!"

"No! I don't want to give up anyone!" Rika fretted.

"Rika," Hanyuu gasped.

"This is the final world!" As Rika's tone of desperation rises. "I don't want this! I don't want a future in which Shion or Kasai die! No! Never! Absolutely never! Hurry up and come down!" Ending with a cry.

There is silence now. Soon, a group of men arrive at the top with flashlights.

". . . Clear. Warbler to Phoenix One. Embrasures neutralized . . ."

". . . Roger. I'll give it a shot. Can you hear me . . . ?!"

Lights are now shining down on them as the gang pull further in.

"No need to answer! Listen up!" The Yamainu shouted. "Hand over the Queen Carrier, Furude Rika, and the director of the clinic, Irie Kyousuke!"

"You murderers!" Mion shouted back up. "How dare you kill Shion!"

"Don't worry! The girl and the man are alive!" The Yamainu called. "They are merely unconscious!"

"They're alive," Keiichi gasped.

They next see an apparently unconscious Shion being hung over the edge.

"Shion!" Mion shouted.

"I-It's a bluff!" Keiichi said defiantly. "They're not going to drop her!"

"And you really believe that?" Axel stated sarcastically.

"We will give you some time to think!" The Yamainu stated. "However, after sixty seconds, we will drop the first hostage!"

"Wha-What do we do?!" Mion fretted. "What do we do?!"

"We could catch them," Axel suggested, then looks up. "Although that Kasai guy could be a problem when they drop him next."

"The enemy is after me," Irie said. "We'll tell them Rika-san has already escaped and I'll go by myself."

"No!" Rena gasped. "Shii-chan and Kasai-san bought us time to escape! If you go, then what did they fight so hard for?!"

"Then what?!" Mion demanded. "Are you saying Shion should die?!"

"Please stop it, Mion-san!" Satoko pleaded. "My heart is about to burst as well. After all . . . Shion is my Nee-nee."

Mion hugs Satoko and cries Shion's name into her.

Axel feels at a loss over what to do as he looks from Mion then back up with gnashed teeth and shimmering irises.

"What should we do?" Rika pleaded. "Hey, Hanyuu! What should we do?!"

"I don't know either," Hanyuu answered with soft desperation.

"Aren't you a god?! Do something!" As Rika grabs her shoulders. "Use your superpowers, or make some kind of miracle happen!"

Hanyuu slaps Rika and the tension seems to disappear.

"Rika. Listen to me!" Hanyuu commanded. "We have crossed many different worlds together and learned many things no normal person could ever know. And finally, in this world, we learned the most important thing of them all. The way to make a miracle happen."

"You're right," Rika answered calmly in her mature voice. "The way to make a miracle happen. I almost forgot it again." Then turns to the rest. "Please run away everyone," in her child voice. "It should be plenty if only I go. There has to be a specific way in which Takano wants to kill me. So I probably won't be killed for awhile."

"R-Rika-chan," Keiichi gasped.

"It's okay. We can absolutely win this. I, everyone else, and even God believes it. This isn't even a pinch. Nipaa."

Rika turns to look up. "Just you try and lay a finger on my friends! I'll bite through my tongue and die! Takano wants to kill me with her own hands. It would get you guys in a lot of trouble."

Rika's voice goes mature once again. "I am telling you to comply with my deal! Quit whimpering and do as I say! Peons!"

"W-We'll accept your conditions!" The Yamainu replied uneasily. "Furude Rika can come up!"

Rika looks back. "I'm off then. Nipaa."

Rika climbs up the ladder and the rest watch helplessly as she does so.

"I can't believe we're allowing this," Keiichi said with disbelief.

"It feels as if we have failed," Rena said sadly.

"It can't be helped," Mion said. "If we did nothing, they would've killed Shion and Kasai, and then come down here and kill the rest of us."

"A miracle can happen," Hanyuu said calmly.

They watch as Rika reaches the top and the Yamainu pull her up. They walk away with her.

"Okay, you heard Rika," Axel said in a quick low serious tone as he turns to go down the tunnel. "Let's get out of here before they come back to kill us."

"But they agreed-" Keiichi began.

"Agreed on what exactly?" Axel interjected curtly as he glares back at him. "Or have you forgotten that they're here to kill everyone in the village? Now let's get the hell out of here."

"What about Shion and Kasai?" Mion pleaded.

Axel sighs as he stares at Mion then looks up. "Fine, I'll take a look." As he walks up to the ladder and starts climbing it.

Once at the top, he sees Shion and Kasai standing there.

"Oh, you two are okay then," Axel said as he climbs over, then turns around to look back down. "Hey guys. I think I made a mistake. So come on up."

One-by-one, they do so.

"Shion!" Mion gasped as she runs then hugs her sister tightly.

"Hey, Sis," as Shion returns the hug. "We were only pretending to be unconscious."

Shion and Kasai each pick up their respective Kalashnikovs and cock it.

"Let's go," Kasai said.

They hurry out of the place with Kasai and Shion at the fore, armed and dangerous. True to Axel's word, the Yamainu are seen running back toward them up ahead. They instead turn around and run as shots are fired at them. The gang reach the gate just as the Yamainu are beating a hasty retreat.

"Everyone!" Rika exclaimed happily as she runs up.

"Rika! I'm so glad you're okay!" Hanyuu exclaimed happily.

"An ally I take it?" Axel said as he thumbs at Akasaka Mamoru, the police man who Rika met four years ago and told him to return to Tokyo or he just might regret it.

"Yes, he beat up all the Yamainu," Rika said.

"By pretending to be unconscious," Keiichi said, "Kasai-san created a chance for us to strike back."

"Thanks to the miracle," Rika said proudly.

"It wasn't a miracle!" Hanyuu stated. "It was because we all combined our strength!"

"You're right," Rika agreed. "A miracle would be wasted on something this minor."

"Okay, this is our time to strike!" Hanyuu proclaimed as she pumps her fist into the air.

They return to the underground chambers to strategize. Eventually, they are able to come to a conclusion with Shion accompanying Dr. Irie, Kasai, and Akasaka to the Irie Clinic where they will kill two birds with one stone: rescue Tomitake Jirou and reveal Satoshi to Shion. The rest consisting of Rika, Hanyuu, Keiichi, Satoko, Rena, Mion, and Axel will take on the Yamainu in the countryside as they take three walkie-talkies with them.

The two groups go their respective ways.

"Rika, how many Yamainu are there altogether?" Axel asked.

"Fifty, I think."

"Seven against fifty," Axel mused. "To a pessimist, those are terrible odds. But numbers alone don't determine the outcome of a battle. Over two thousand years ago in Greece at a place called Thermopylae, three hundred Spartans held off thousands of invading Persians. Now, Thermopylae was easy to defend because it's a very narrow mountain pass. And the Spartans would have won if not for a traitor named Ephialtes who showed the Persians a path to go around and trap and kill the Spartans."

"Nice history lesson, Axer-san," Mion said with approval. "Then the seven shall defeat fifty and I doubt there's a traitor amongst us."

They go up to a hill that overlooks a valley with a road.

"They'll be coming down that road," Mion pointed. "It's the only road in and out of this place."

"I'll keep watch," Rika said.

"Right," Mion said as she hands a walkie-talkie to her. "Now let's get to work."

The group begin setting the various traps as Satoko oversees them. Since Axel is not familiar with Hinamizawa's countryside, he has to rely heavily upon the other three.

"Damn, but these traps look effective," Axel mused as he is helping Keiichi set a branch back with an oil barrel upon it.

Satoko laughs in that haughy manner. "But of course, Axer-san. I am called the Trapmaster for a reason."

"Let's hope that it takes down all of the Yamainu or that they don't have the numbers to stand up against us," Axel said.

They eventually finish and return to Rika.

"So they haven't come yet," Rena mused.

"Lucky for us because it gave us time," Keiichi said.

Minutes later, six vans come driving down the road. Five of them are small passenger vans, but the one in the back is larger and more elaborate.

"Here they come," Mion said.

"How many of them do you think will walk off this mountain unscathed?" Satoko mused playfully.

"Let's see first hand how many of them will fall before us," Mion stated then punches her palm.

"Miyo is with them," Axel said.

"Eh? What's this?" Mion mused playfully with a grinning shrunken iris cat smile. "You speak of her as if you had history with her, Axer-san."

"Not in this universe," Axel answered. "It was a rainy night and she came along and picked me up from the side of a road. She took me back to her place and . . . well."

"Oh ho ho! What a bold woman!" Mion clamored. "She made a man out of you that night! And I don't blame her too." As she half hugs Axel with a smarmy look.

"We need to stay focussed," Keiichi stated.

"Right," Mion agreed. "Hanyuu, Rika, and I will stay on the lookout while the rest of you go spring those traps."

"Right!" The four exclaimed.

The four run off and await the enemy. It is at one point that the four are at the top of a hill with a pile of logs. Satoko gives them the go ahead and they push the logs over the hill toward the Yamainu, sending them on their way back down.

"We have five casualties here," Satoko radioed Mion. "Oh wait, there are six now!"

"As expected from you, Satoko!" Mion radioed back. "Keep up the good work!"

"Roger that," Satoko said.

The four hurry through the forest and get into position as Satoko goes off to find a lookout spot to watch from. Rena has the other walkie-talkie with her to listen and gives the go ahead as Keiichi and Axel await to spring the traps of a pair of oil barrels. Axel keeps watch on Keiichi as he is further out of view with orders to cut his rope as soon as Keiichi cuts his own.

Sure enough, Keiichi does so and Axel is quick to follow as he cuts his rope with a quick flick of his wrist. The tree with his barrel goes flying into another trio of Yamainu. Rena runs out and up to Keiichi as Axel runs over as well. They high-five each other simulateously as they cheer.

Onward the four continue to spring various traps. Rolling logs, releasing branches, and even a swinging log. It is at one point that Satoko radioed the trio in, ordering them to return to Mion. Once there, they see the reason why.

"We are going to use this radio pack against the Yamainu," Rika said as she has just such in her possession.

"How?" Keiichi asked.

"Psychological warfare," Mion answered. "If we can scare them, then they'll lose heart and give up."

"Hanyuu is going to be playing the angry god," Rika said. "Kei-chan, Axer-kun, you two will play the part of terrified Yamainu."

"This oughta be interesting," Axel mused.

"Hauauau, I don't know if I can do it," Hanyuu fretted.

"Hanyuu," Axel said seriously, and his tone begins to rise. "You can do this. In the last universe I was in, I saw you confront Miyo in anger. You can do this. Remember what will happen if we fail!"

"Warbler. Respond!" A man's authorative voice sounds over the radio. "Warbler! Is anyone there?!"

"Do it!" Axel demanded. "Scare the shit outta them! Get! Angry!"

Hanyuu closes her eyes then opens them to reveal a red gleam in them as she scowls. Axel is a little put off by her sudden transformation.

Hanyuu laughs in a slow sinister tone.

"Foolish humans who know naught of that which is divine." Her tone chilling, menacing. "Sacrilege will not be tolerated. Know thy sin of trampling upon holy ground."

As if Axel isn't perturbed enough by her performance, he notices that the day is darkening and looks up to see clouds blot out the sun and the rest of the sky.

"Help me!" Keiichi screamed nearby.

Axel also screams as well.

"Who is this?!" The commander over the radio demanded. "What happened?!"

Keiichi screams again, then Axel.

"O, pitiful warbler!" Hanyuu continued in that inhuman tone. "Hast thou already left for the netherworld?" She laughs in the slow menacing manner.

"Demons!" Keiichi screamed. "Demons are coming! I"ve heard about this! We're being demoned away! We're all going to be erased on this mountain!"

As Keiichi blathered, Axel threw in periodic screams as well.

"Don't be ridiculous!" The commander's voice is heard once again. "Get a hold of yourself! Is this Warbler?! Or Egret?!"

"Human organs!" Keiichi screamed.

They listen to the sounds of men over the radio screaming and running off.

"Amazing, Hanyuu-chan!" Rena exclaimed. "You sounded just like a real god!"

"Seriously," Mion said. "A normal human could never speak with such menace in their voice."

"Nipaa!" Rika exclaimed.

"Hauauau, but then Keiichi and Axer were amazing too!" Hanyuu squealed. "They were screeching like chickens being strangled."

Axel and Keiichi laugh. Satoko laughs in that haughty manner. "This is a piece of cake for Keiichi-san! Us club members don't call him a magician of words for nothing!"

"Well now," Mion said. "The enemy must have suffered quite a bit of damage. I wonder what their next move will be?"

"I think Takano will be coming forth to rally them," Rika said.

"Let's get to another spot and be ready," Mion said.

As they were about to leave, a voice comes over the radio.

"Can you hear me?! I am Major Takano. Your supreme commander! Listen well. There are no demons or gods. And if there are, fight them! Gods should be dragged down from their pedestals! Skylark and Warbler, regroup and rearrange your forces. Phoenix, regroup with the remaining Egret members. Charge the enemy to the very end! Move out!"

"We can't do that!" A man is heard wailing.

"What are you talking about?!" Miyo is heard raging. "Do it now! Don't make me repeat myself. We will encircle them and run them down! We have both hands around their necks! All that's left is to strangle them!"

The radio goes silence.

"You were right, Rika," Axel said seriously.

"She's desperate," Mion said whimsically. "That's gonna really mess up her thinking."

"And I'm gonna really mess up her thinking even more," Axel stated as he walks up to the radio pack.

"What are you doing, Axer-san?" Rena asked.

"You'll see." As he picks up the headset, then turns his attention back to it. "Miyo. Hey, Miyo, are you there?"

"Who is this?!" Her voice crackled over the relay.

"My name is Axel Sawyer."

"Eh? A foreigner? What do you want?"

"I want you to remember that night of passion we had together."

There is a moment of silence.

"What?!" Miyo bellowed shrillfully. "I've never been with foreign men! Are you an American?! Is this the CIA?!"

Axel puts the headset down and lets her rant on. The gang burst out laughing.

"Oh man, is she pissed!" Mion gasped as she wipes an eye. "That will really put her off!"

The gang hurry to their next objective.

"What did he mean by a night of passion?" Satoko asked.

"You'll understand when you're older," Mion said dryly with a lazy expession and a large sweatdrop.

Further in, they hear something.

"I hear voices," Keiichi said.

"Come on," Mion said.

The gang reach the crest of a hill and see two people at the bottom.

"It's Miyo," Axel gasped.

"There she is!" Miyo is heard bellowing harshly from below as she is looking up their way. "It's Rika! Okonagi! Seize her! What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and capture her!"

"Just shut up for a moment!" Okonagi is heard growling at her.

"So that was the guy on the radio," Axel remarked.

"I am Okonagi of the Yamainu! Allow me to express my respect for your leader! Please tell me your name!"

Mion steps forward.

"Club Leader, Sonozaki Mion."

"You have won this fight," Okonagi proclaimed.

"Okonogi?!" Miyo is heard gasping.

"Tomitake has breached our barricade line," Okonogi said to Miyo, "so it is only a matter of time for a unit to put us down to arrive."

"Okonogi!" Miyo demanded.

But her second-in-command holds out his arm to silence her. "You really are quite something," he said to Mion. "With proper training, you could make it big in SAS, Delta Force, or you name it."

Mion laughs derisively.

"SAS? Delta Force?" Her tone contemptuous. "How worthless! There is only one thing I want to do. And that is to be the leader of our club at the Hinamizawa Branch School . . . ! Magician of Words, Maebara Keiichi. Ryuuguu Rena, and her Take-It-Home Mode. Trap Specialist, Satoko. Sly Fox, Rika-chan. And our promising newbie, Furude Hanyuu. With such an awesome bunch, we won't be bored wherever we go!"

"Eh? But what about the foreigner?" Okonogi asked as he points at Axel.

"He is someone who just happened to show up and aid us in our hour of need," Mion answered, then gestures to him. "The Traveler of Universes, Axer Sawyer."

"Oh ho, so he's the one the Major had a night of passion with," Okonogi chuckled.

"That's ridiculous! I've never seen him before in my life!" Miyo grated.

Okonogi starts laughing.

"Okonogi! What are you doing?!" Miyo continued to rant. "That woman is the enemy leader! Bring her down!"

Okonogi stops laughing.

"Well, even if the battle is already over," he said dryly, "it's the princess' orders."

And points his gun toward them, causing the gang to tense. Axel especially, since he remembers only too well what it's like to be shot.

Repetative thumping from up above causes everyone to look up and see a helicopter fly from over the forest. Its rotory blades whip up the air, creating wind.

"Attention all members of the Irie Institution," a voice announced over its radio. "As of today at twelve hundred and thirty hours, the authority of the Irie Institution has been frozen. Disarm yourselves and surrender immediately. In case of resistance, we will not hesitate to apprehend you with force."

Okonogi lowers his gun and turns to walk away.

"Not yet!" Miyo ranted. "It's not over yet!" And she follows after him.

All around, the Banken descend from helicopters on rope and spread out. Satoko sinks to her knees.

"Is it," she sighed, "over now?"

"I don't know," Rika answered. "This has never happened before."

Akasaka, now dressed in a semi-formal manner, comes running toward them.

"Rika-chan!" He yelled. "I'm so glad your safe!"

"Akasaka," Rika gasped. "Akasaka!" She runs to him and dives into him, holding him. "Akasaka, Akasaka! I'm so glad you're safe!" She cries into him.

"It appears they have already taken control of the clinic, under Dr. Irie's guidance," Akasaka said.

"So Manager is okay, too!" Rena said with relief.

"Thank goodness," Mion sighed with relief.

"The Yamainu members are surrendering, one after another," Akasaka said. "It seems they have charge of the boy that was with them, too."

"Huh? Boy?" Satoko inquired.

"Satoko," Rika sighed with relief. "I'm so glad!"

"Where's Hanyuu?" Keiichi spoke up as he looks around, causing the rest to do so.

"She was here just now, wasn't she?" Rena asked.

"Hanyuu," Rika said.

"They haven't caught Takano Miyo yet," Akasaka said.

"And Hanyuu has gone off on her own," Axel noted grimly.

"Come on," Rika said as she breaks away from Akasaka.

The gang go and search for her.

"I just felt a drop of rain," Rena said.

Sure enough, it begins to do so.

"Ah, great," Axel grumbled. "Where did she get to?"

"There she is!" Keiichi said as he points at Hanyuu, who is back on to them.

"Hanyuu!" Rika called.

Upon reaching her, they are confronted by . . .

"Takano!" Rika exclaimed.

Axel can see that Miyo has lost her shoes and her stockings are ripped and tattered. He sharply draws in breath as his irises shrink in concern as he sees a gun in her hand.

"Looks like I'll be able to go out with a bang at the very, very end," Miyo droned.

She points the gun at the gang. Axel can see the glint of despair in her droopy eyes. And madness.

"Mion-chan!" Miyo crooned disturbingly. "If you don't want me to shoot your friends, step forward!"

Mion does so.

"Mii-chan!" Rena gasped.

"Everything is messed up because of you," Miyo droned on. "I won't be forgiven anyway. But it is just too frustrating to go out like this. So . . . you know? At least let me pay you back some!"

"Is she desperate?!" Keiichi rasped.

"Yes I am!" Miyo clamored. "I only have one bullet!"

"Now I get it," Axel proclaimed. "She's too proud to surrender or use that bullet on herself, so she figures that by killing Mion, she can make the rest of us rush her and beat her to death."

"Ha, ha, that's pretty insightful," Miyo chuckled ruefully. "You know . . . I do get the feeling that I have seen you before."

"In other universes," Axel said. "Not that you would believe. But don't you get it yet? You were selected by Tokyo because they knew they could easily set you up. And of course-Down!" screaming that last word while hurling himself to the ground as quickly as he can.

A single shot sounds off. For a second, Axel thinks he had been shot, but it is only the pain of hitting the ground. He is quick to get up and look to see that everyone had done what he did.

"Is everyone okay?!" Axel hollered.

Everyone slowly gets up and each voice that they are okay. Axel snarls at Miyo as she is standing there with a stunned look, then runs at her and pries the gun out of her hand to throw down. He grabs her by the shoulders and pins her roughly to a tree. He keeps ahold of her shoulders while snarling into her face with shimmering tiny irises.

"Axer, calm down!" Mion stated. "I know you were hurt by her in that other universe, but you need to calm. We're all okay. And we have her now."

"Oooh, aren't you big and strong," Miyo taunted Axel with a vacant smile. "So you claim that we were lovers in another universe? Maybe you're the one who has Hinamizawa Syndrome." Then chuckles as starts scratching her neck with both hands.

"Itchy neck?" Axel asked. "That's one of the symptoms of the Hinamizawa Syndrome."

"Yes it is," Rika answered.

"I see," Axel said as he feels some of his anger drifting away. "Then I guess it can't be helped. But I can't help but wonder," as he regards the gang. "Did she get Hinamizawa Syndrome before she went ahead with this plan, or did she only just get it now?"

"Does it really matter, Axer?" Rika asked.

"Yeah, you're right." Then turns to Miyo. "It looks like you've lost."

"Game set, Takano-san," Keiichi stated.

"You guys play a lot of games, don't you?" Miyo sighed sadly to the gang. "Do you play the card game Old Maid?"

"We sure don't," Mion stated. "We just play Old Geezer."

"The rules are about the same," Miyo said. "The sin in this world is just like Old Maid. Everyone pushes the old maid onto one another. It is not a game you seek to win, but one in which you seek to make someone the loser. The sacrifice. I have drawn the Old Maid."

"Miyo, you don't understand," Rika said. "Old Geezer is not about getting rid of a card, it's about seeking to add one. If one adds a missing card or two that is taken out in a game of Old Geezer, it becomes a game without losers. After adding Hanyuu and Axer, our missing cards, this world became a world free of losers. It is the height of folly to purposely take even so much as one card out of the game. This world doesn't need a loser. That is the answer Furude Rika reached at the end of her thousand year journey in search of a miracle."

Miyo smirks and chuckles, which instantly gives way to hysterical laughter. "This world is free of losers . . . ?! This world doesn't need a loser?!" And continues to laugh maniacally.

"Fool!" Miyo screeched with a snarl and wide eyes with shrunken irises as she attempts to lunge at Rika, startling the others but is held back by Axel. "Stupid, stupid fool! This world is filled with losers and I was one of them! I lost my parents when I was your age and was sent to an orphanage where I was tortured and abused until I was rescued by my grandfather! He discovered the Hinamizawa Syndrome, but was laughed and mocked for it! This world shall always have losers! Stupid, stupid girl!"

Miyo suddenly slumps as she moans despondently and tears stream down her face. Her expression becomes a flat look of despair.

"I'm so tired. I'm just . . . so tired," she groaned as she reaches up to scratch her neck vigorously once again.

"Stop it," Axel gasped empathetically as he grabs her hands and holds them tight.

"S-So itchy," Miyo gasped shakingly as she struggles against his dual grip.

"I didn't mean to mock you, Takano," Rika said empathetically. "And you're right. There are still losers out there. But that doesn't mean that one should accept that they must die for the sake of others."

The rain stops and the sun comes out. Footsteps get their attention and they see the Banken moving in. Axel is quick to let go of Miyo, allowing her to slump to the ground, and back away. Three of them surround Miyo, guns pointing at her, and she looks up with a lost look.

"Major Takano," their commander said. "You are under arrest."

"I . . . I am going to be held responsible for everything, aren't I?" Miyo gasped meekly as she scratches her neck once again.

Two soldiers move in and each take her by an arm.

"No! No! No!" She wailed as she struggles against their grip. "Grandpa's scrapbook! I'm bringing it with me! No! No!"

Axel eyes glisten and his lips tighten slightly.

 _She's broken_. He thought sadly.

"Wait."

The gang look to see Tomitake walk up with Asakasa behind him.

"First Lieutenant Tomitake of the Investigation Bureau. The Investigation Bureau will take her into custody."

"But," the commander said, "we have received orders from Headquarters to take her to Tokyo immediately."

"Don't you notice by looking at her?" Tomitake countered. "Look at her body. It is covered with scratch marks. We suspect she has contracted a considerably high level of Hinamizawa Syndrome."

The soldiers release her and back away in shock, fearful that they might catch it.

"Transfer her to the Irie Institution HQ immediately," Tomitake continued, "and have her infection level inspected. Tell Director to prepare treatment measures for Major Takano."

"Understood," the commander answered.

Tomitake walks up to Miyo, kneels down beside her, and puts his arm around her.

"Jirou-san," Miyo croaked tearfully as she looks back at him. "Jirou-san!" And presses her face into his chest and wails.

Axel smiles sadly, even though he feels a jab of jealously. He blinks hard to dispel the tears that are about to form. He notices that book of hers on the ground and walks up to it. He picks it up and looks at it for a moment, then walks up to Miyo.

"Miyo, look," Tomitake whispered to her.

She does so and Axel holds the book out to her. She takes it from him and hugs it.

"Thank you," she whispered as tears stream down her cheeks.

Axel nods, then turns and walks away to join the rest of the gang.

"Today is the day of the Watanagashi Festival," Rika said.

"Come on," Mion said as she turns away. "There's nothing more here to see."

The gang do so.

They walk onward in silence for a while, each alone with their thoughts. Axel especially over Miyo predicament.

"Aw, you really do feel something for her, don't you, Axer-kun," Mion said with a backhanded empathetic tone as she clasps his shoulder, then gives him a mischievous leer. "I guess that night of passion you had with her in that universe stuck to you."

"Could you be any ruder, Mion" Axel sighed. "And would you be able to do what Miyo had done for me? Pick up a male stranger from a lonely stretch of road, at night, and offer him shelter at your house? All alone with you? Well she did. That is what affects me the most. That overwhelming trust she had in me."

"Oh, Axer-kun," Mion chuckled as she shakes her head while giving him a close eyed rueful smile, then looks at him. "How can a guy as sexy as you be so naive? It was not that Takano-san trusted you, it was that she concluded you were no threat to her. And feeling a little aroused, smitten, and curious, she decided to indulge herself."

"I'm not following," Axel leered.

"The wolf knows their own," Mion began in a lecturing manner. "It means a predator knows a predator when they see one. Someone who lives their life preying on others or dealing with those type of people eventually learn to read if someone's a predator or not by the movements, tone of voice, and the facial expressions they may subconsciously use. If you were a homicidal maniac, Axer-kun, she would've kept on driving, fast. "

Satoko laughs hauntily. "I guess that's why you're able to wrap Keiichi-kun around your little finger."

The rest of the gang laugh.

"Hey, hey, that's hitting below the belt!" Keiichi fumed with solid white eyes.

"So you see, Axer-kun," Mion said in a humorously sad tone. "She simply knew that you were not a threat to her. Trust was irrelevant. But was it good?" As she leans in close to him while clasping his arm while bearing a cat smile with shrunken irises. "Was it painful for her since you foreign guys are suppose to have big-"

Mion gets a punch in the gut as Satoko is standing between her and Axel with an angry close eyed expression with her head tilted downward. "Please refrain from asking lewd questions!"

The gang laugh as they continue on their way back to the Sonozaki household.

"I bet when I pick it up I'm going to disappear back into my universe," Axel said as he looks down at his knapsack.

"The next universe you go into will be a return to your own," Hanyuu said. "But it will only be through the Saiguden."

"How do you know?" Axel asked.

"I just do," Hanyuu replied. "I'm as certain of it as I know tomorrow will follow today."

"Isn't that place off limits to anyone other than Rika?" Rena asked.

"It is," Rika verified, "so we'll have to do it at night. After the festival."

Axel sighs as he closes his eyes, tilts his head down, and smiles. "So I guess I have no choice but to attend your festival."

"In the meantime, you can put your stuff in my place," Rika said in her child-like manner. "Also you can have your other shirt and your knapsack mended. Nipaa."

The day gets later and the festival starts in earnest. The gang go about their tour of the booths, with Axel in tow.

"I'm after the bear!" Mion shouted as she points her cork shooting rifle at the bear in the shooting gallery. She fires and hits it, but it doesn't fall. "The bear!" As she shoots, but gets nothing. "The bear!" Once again shooting, but getting nothing.

"You suck," Keiichi taunted.

Mion responds by throwing Keiichi to the ground and shooting him repeatedly with both cork shooting rifles.

A bell sounds, getting everyone attention.

"Oh crap!" Mion exclaimed.

"Rika's performance is going to start!" Satoko added.

"Everyone, hurry!" Mion exclaimed as she drops the guns and runs, making the others follow.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Keiichi shouted as he gets up and runs after them.

The group arrives at the place and watch the performance of Rika descending the steps dressed in her miko outfit and wielding a hoe. She arrives at the bottom in a methodical manner and swings her hoe around. She turns to a bail of cotton and begins chopping it up, again in a methodical manner. Axel watches with the others in the front row and smiles.

After Rika finishes her performance everyone lines up to get a ball of cotton.

"Come on, Axer-kun," Mion said as she pulls him along by the arm. "You can get a ball of cotton too."

He does so. With Mion and the rest of the club members, they go to the river bank and put their balls of cotton into it. Shion shows up with Kasai and they also get their cotton balls as well to put into the river. Axel looks down by his side to see Rika standing there, this time holding his now cleaned and mended knapsack, as it has a patch on it where the bullet hole used to be.

"I guess it's time for me to go," Axel smiles ruefully with closed eyes.

"That it is," Rika said.

"Well, then," Axel said as he takes his knapsack and puts it on. "Let's get going."

The gang arrive at the Saiguden and stand before its closed doors.

"So all I have to do is walk inside and close the doors," Axel said.

"Yes," Hanyuu answered.

"Simple enough," he answered. "I won't make this long. They say a long goodbye is hard. So . . . Goodbye, Keiichi. Goodbye, Rena. Goodbye, Mion. Goodbye, Shion. Goodbye, Satoko."

They also say goodbye to him as well.

"But I especially want to say goodbye to you, Rika." As he bends over and clasps her shoulder. "And you, Hanyuu." As he clasps her shoulder as well.

"Goodbye, Axer," Rika said gently.

"Hauauau, goodbye, Axer-kun."

"What is going on here?" Shion exclaimed with annoyance. "How is his entering the forbidden place suppose to send him back to his home?"

"You'll see," Mion answered.

Axel takes one more look at the group, then turns and opens the doors. He enters and turns to get one more glimpse of them and shuts the doors.

"Okay, okay, the joke's over," Shion sighed with a close-eyed smile as she tilts her head down while walking up to the doors.

She pulls them open, only to see no one inside.

"Wha-Where is he?" Shion asked. "Right, he's hiding." And she goes inside.

"Uh, where is he?" Her voice is heard. "Hey! Axer-san! Where are you? Are you over here . . . ? Are you over there?"

Sounds of moving objects are soon heard.

"Hey, where are you?! This isn't funny anymore!"

The sounds of movement eventually turn into sounds of vandalism as her tone rises with anger and disbelief.

"Get your ass back out here! If I find you I'm gonna shove my stungun up it! Hey! Hey! Where did you disappear to?! Get out here now! Where the hell are you! Did you disappear?! Hey!"

The gang make open-mouthed frowns with half-closed solid black eyes and a large sweatdrop.

"This is definitely sacrilege, isn't it?" Satoko said.

"Oh yes it certainly is," Rika answered.

"How are the villagers going to deal with this?" Rena asked.

"We can claim that she has Hinamizawa Syndrome," Mion said.

"Let's drag her out of there before she really gets cursed by Hanyuu," Keiichi said.

Hanyuu responds by squealing her verbal tic as the smashing and crashing continues inside the Saiguden along with Shion's ranting and raving.


	16. Chapter 15

It has been only seconds since Axel had closed those doors, but he now opens them to find nobody outside. Instead, it is foggy gloom along with the busted lock and handles lying before him. He checks his watch to see that it is five thirty A.M. and the date to be Sunday, June the twenty-first.

 _But have I truly returned?_ He wondered.

He hurries along, taking note of the decades of abandonment around him. He enters what he now knows was Rika's home and heads straight to where those box of pictures should be. He finds them and looks them over to see that they are the same ones. He sighs as he looks through them.

 _I hope you guys live well in that universe . . . Who knows . . . ? Maybe your universe is better than this one_.

Axel continues to look at the pictures.

 _I wonder if I should take them . . . ? No. They will remain here_.

And he puts them back. He next takes the felt pen, scrap of note, and spent bullet out of his knapsack. He pockets the bullet, but stares at the pen and scrap of note for a moment before placing them onto the desk.

He sighs, then turns and leaves the place with another destination in mind.

Axel arrives at the building with the schoolroom. He first walks up to the bullet holes in the wall and searches for that spent shell casing he had tucked into one of them. He finds it and next takes out the spent bullet to compare with the shell casing, but finds that they do not match up.

He bounces them both in his left hand as if hefting them, then finally tosses them away as he turns to go inside. Upon entering the classroom, he immediately looks at the chalkboard to see writing and walks up to it.

"Axel Sawyer was here, Sunday, June twenty-first, two thousand fifteen," he read aloud.

Axel gasps with relief with a close eyed smile. He removes his knapsack and takes out that bottle of water and pulls the handkerchief out of one of his pockets. He wets his handkerchief and starts washing away what he had written until the board is clean.

He returns to his knapsack as he tucks his handkerchief back into his pocket and puts the waterbottle away. He takes out his notebook and sits at a desk next to the window and writes about his adventure in the previous universe. The sun is already up by the time he writes the last sentence of when he entered the Saiguden and closed the doors. He thinks for a moment, then prints, Prime Universe, as the heading on a blank page and underlines it.

'It is Sunday, June 21, 2015,' he wrote, 'and the time was 5:30 A.M. when I finally returned.'

Axel closes his notebook and closes his eyes as he sighs from a sense of completion washing over him. He puts the pen back into its sleeve and puts his notebook back into the zip bag and into his knapsack, then slings it onto his back and leaves.

Outside, the fog is almost gone and there stands a woman with long hair with a bang and wearing a sleeveless sundress. She seems familiar somehow and Axel walks up to her. The closer he gets, the more familiar she seems.

"Rika?!" Axel gasped. "Rika, is it you?!" He reaches out and touches her face, then strokes her hair. "God, but you've grown into a beautiful woman!"

She is silent for a moment.

"Do you regret your adventure?" Rika finally answered. Her voice verifying his suspicions about who first sent him on that adventure. "Even though you indulged yourself with the woman who turned out to be an enemy? And who has taken a piece of your heart?"

Axel is silent for a moment as he drops his hand to his side.

"No," he said softly, yet profoundly. "No, I don't. I'm glad to have had it."

She smiles mysteriously and walks past him. "That is good to hear. Your adventures through other universes are forever over. Yet another adventure awaits," then turns to regard him, "and it shall begin when all has gone to madness after you have returned home. Which shall be soon."

Axel turns in the direction of a horn honking to see a car and a van racing down the road toward him. He looks back at Rika, but she is gone. He stares for a bit at where she had been, just knowing that he will not be meeting her ever again.

He returns his attention to those rapidly approaching vehicles. They stop near him and uniformed men get out. They are not wearing the uniforms of the Yamainu though.

"You!" One of the men bellowed angrily in English as he storms toward Axel while pointing ardently at him. "What are you doing here?!"

"I was just seeking shelter from last night's storm," Axel answered in Japanese.

"That does not excuse you!" The man shouted. "There is a biohazard here! You are coming with us! Get in that van, now!" As he points ardently at it.

Axel does as he was told, understanding that refusing will only get him dragged into it. Once inside, the doors are shut, plunging him into total darkness. For an instance, he thought that he would slip into another universe, but Rika had told him that was all over with.

Though his gut is telling him that was not Rika.

The van is soon on its way, causing Axel to jiggle around. He ponders what she had told him before these people showed up. And will continue to do so, all the way home.


	17. Epilogue

_Date: June 20, 1983  
_ _Place: A universe where Miyo had won._

Takano Miyo enters an office, dressed in her black and grey outfit and carrying her grandfather's scrapbook. Nomura stands before her as she relaxes sitting against the front of a desk.

"Nomura-san," Miyo said respectfully as she gives her a bow, then straightens.

"Ah, Takano-san," Nomura answered with soft relief. "How did the operation go?"

"The execution of Emergency Manual Number Thirty-Four went as planned," Miyo answered proudly. "Every inhabitant of Hinamizawa has been eliminated."

"Excellent work, Takano-san," Nomura answered with approval. "Excellent work indeed. Tokyo is so pleased with the success of your mission that they have given you the privilage of being congratulated by them directly. Be thankful because few beneath me ever get such a privilage. I have them on speaker phone right now. So come forth and speak to them." As she extends her hand over the secretarial telephone that is alongside her.

Miyo walks up to the desk with an awestruck look and bends slightly to be over the phone.

"Ah, h-hello! A-Are you are the leader of Tokyo?"

"Yes I am," a man with an authorative voice answered from the telephone's speaker.

"It is an honor to be speaking with you, sir!"

"Thank you. Now then, let us get to the point: I, along with the rest of Tokyo, wish to express our profound gratitude for your cooperation. Without you, our plan would have been more difficult to execute."

"Ah, th-thank you! Thank you very much!"

"And with that said, there is one more thing that you must do for us, Takano Miyo."

"Yes! Yes! Anything!"

"Die."

The communication ends as the phone's buzztone sounds, prompting Nomura to push a button to hang up. Miyo is frozen with a look of disbelief.

"Wha-Wha-What?" As she turns to Nomura with a confused look.

"All those who supported the late Koizumi have been eliminated," Nomura said as she is now standing. "Now all that is left is you."

Miyo's eyes go wider as her pupils shrink to shimmering pinpricks. She tries to speak, but is unable to do so. Nomura steps forward and reaches out with a single hand to gently clasp hold of Miyo's face as if a lover.

"Ah, Takano-san," Nomura crooned mockingly with a fake tender look. "I know you are in disbelief because you were obviously expecting so much more, but you must face these facts." She tightens her grip, smooshing Miyo's lips as her tone turns hard. "You chose to get into that car with me. You chose to listen to me. You chose us. You chose to become our pawn to purge our organization of undesirables. So from all those choices you made, you ended up choosing to forfeit your life."

She lets go of Miyo's face, who ends up drooping her head to stare pie eyed at the floor with shimmering pinpricked irises and slackened lips.

Nomura presses a button on her phone. Three muscular men enter almost immediately. They are stern of face and wear black business suits with sunglasses, with one of them bearing a rag. Nomura walks up to stand alongside the men.

"Takano-san," Nomura commanded in a soft steely tone. "Look at me."

Miyo does so, but still keeps that horrified expression. She now finds herself staring at a syringe that Nomura is holding aloft.

"The entire contents of this syringe," Nomura explained, "will shut down your cardiopulmonary system in a matter of seconds."

Miyo's face becomes even more terror stricken as she gasps with a quavering mouth.

Nomura turns to the men. "Do it."

"No," Miyo rasped softly, frightfully, with tears streaming down her cheeks as she makes a move back.

Two of those men lunge for her.

"No!" Miyo screamed with uttermost terror as she turns to run.

It is to no avail as they are quick to grab an arm and firmly restrain her.

"No! Please let me live! Please, Nomura-san, please! I can be of use to you!" As Miyo struggles desperately while kicking and squirming, kicking off her shoes and causing her hat to fall off.

She is silenced by a firm punch in the stomach from the other man, emptying her lungs of air in one huge rasp. That man clamps hold of Miyo's head while clamping that rag over her mouth and nose. Together, all three men tilt Miyo over backwards so that she ends up finding herself looking up at Nomura standing above her of whom she makes eye contact with.

Nomura smiles in a seemingly affectionate manner and shushes softly while stroking her hair. Her smile does not touch her cold eyes.

"Don't cry, Takano-san, don't cry," Nomura crooned. "Look at me. Everything's going to be okay."

Miyo gets weaker by the second as her screaming weakens as does her struggles. Her eyelids get heavier.

"Yeah, that's it," Nomura crooned as if pleased as she continues to stroke Miyo's hair. "Just go to sleep, Miyo. Go to sleep . . . forever."

As it was in this universe, so it was in every other universe where Takano Miyo oversaw the mass murder of the people of Hinamizawa. In this particular one, however, Miyo never had the chance to learn of her own pregnancy.

* * *

 _Date: July 9, 1983  
_ _Place: The universe where Rika had won_.

Miyo is being escorted by Tomitake to an area of the clinic's underground base. She is dressed in a simple grey dress. They enter a room where she has visitors. They being Rika, Hanyuu, Rena, Mion, Shion, Satoko, and Keiichi.

"Oh my, you've all come to pay me a visit?" Miyo crooned with a sardonic smile and tone. "And after all that I tried to do to you? Well, aren't you all just wonderful."

"Miyo, they were kind enough to visit you," Tomitake said in a warning tone. "So don't be throwing it back in their faces."

Miyo smiles simperingly.

"This won't be a habit for us, Takano," Rika said begrudgingly.

"Yeah, so don't get used to this," Shion added sharply.

"Where is that foreigner?" Miyo asked.

"Axer had to go back home," Rika said.

A nurse enters and walks up to them.

"There is another visitor here," she said.

"Who?" Tomitake asked.

A woman walks in.

"N-Nomura-san?!" Miyo gasped.

"Takano-san," Nomura said in a chilly respectful manner as she walks up to Miyo. "I am only here briefly to get a sense of your illness."

"Nomura-san, please help me," Miyo pleaded. "There has to be some mistake!"

Nomura sighs as she closes her eyes and tilts her head foreward to shake with disappointment, then look back up at Miyo.

"I can see that the Hinamizawa Syndrome has you firmly in its grip," she said in a derisively empathetic manner.

"Now I understand," Rika snapped as she marches up to Nomura with a glare. "You're the one who Takano answered to!"

"Oh, you must be Rika-chan," Nomura said in a child-like tone as she bends over to be closer to her. "You're cuter than your picture. And these must be your friends." As she straightens to regard the others.

"We know you answer to that Tokyo group," Keiichi snapped.

"And we don't mean the city," Satoko stated. "We mean the ones who wanted to kill off the people of Hinamizawa and create a bioweapon out of this horrific disease!"

"Oh, is that so?" Nomura answered condescendingly.

"Your superiors knew Takano-san was perfect for a set up when they planned to purge their ranks of their rivals," Mion added derisively.

"And now they've sent you here to see just how far gone Takano-san really is," Rena also added curtly. "That way, they can come to a decision of whether to let her live or not."

"I grow weary of this," Nomura sighed. "Just know that the people who meant you all harm won't trouble you ever again. Now good day to you all."

"Nomura-san, please help me!" Miyo croaked tearfully as she grabs her arm.

"And you are being helped," Nomura answered in a soft dangerous tone as she pries Miyo's hands off her arm. "Farewell, Takano Miyo."

Nomura turns and walks away.

"Nomura-san!" Miyo wailed as she attempts to chase after her, only to be restrained by Tomitake.

The gang glare after Nomura, while Hanyuu has a worried look.

"Hauauau, what a scary woman," Hanyuu whined.

"Yes, she is clearly more self-possessed than Takano-san," Shion said.

"And given what she had just said about the people who meant us harm won't be troubling us ever again means I was right about them purging their rivals," Mion said.

"With their rivals purged," Tomitake said. "That must mean they will be able to operate more effectively."

"To what ends," Rika said, "we shall never know."

* * *

 _Date: July 9, 2015  
_ _Place: Axel Sawyer's home universe_

It has been seven days since Axel's return home. Yet not before having to spend seven days before that in Japan's Center for Disease Control. There, he had been questioned, tested, poked, and prodded to see if he had picked up anything dangerous. They found nothing and sent him packing, telling him to never return.

There were times when the situation was light-hearted in that some of the women working there flirted with him, with one of them being present for his disrobing. He would later learn that she bragged to her female friends about his size. And also how she would like to creep in on him at night.

Now, he is in his apartment preparing his knapsack. That same knapsack. His expression is serious with gritted teeth and shrunken irises as a drop of sweat runs down the side of his face. Outside, there is smoke and fire as buildings and vehicles burn. Shooting is heard, along with sirens, as people are running around looting or killing, or both.

It all began six days ago, just one day after his return home. News reports started coming in about people going violently insane and attacking other people whether they were strangers or loved ones. The reports continued to grow as increasingly more people turned insane. It could not be traced to a single individual as it seemed to have broken out in a multitude of places all over the world. They were either killed in self-defense or they killed themselves.

By clawing out their own throats.

The numbers continued to grow and people began to panic. A state of emergency was declared, but to no avail as increasingly more people continued to come down with what people were simply calling, the Great Madness.

But Axel knew.

Before the power finally failed earlier, he managed to learn from various news sources that the entire world was being engulfed in chaos. Fortunately, it is not like Miyo had taunted back in Universe #13 because it is infecting all people, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" A man is heard screaming outside in the hallway. "You're with the conspiracy to turn our brains into jelly!"

"No, Harvey don't!" Another man is heard screaming. "It's the Madness! Fight it!"

A shotgun goes off, then a few more times. Axel grabs his gun, a simple handgun, as he takes cover behind his sofa.

"That'll teach you!" the man named Harvey is heard shouting in fury. "That'll teach you not to try and turn our brains into jelly!"

Axel listens intently to the man named Harvey. He can hear his ragged breathing outside in the hallway, and now just outside his door and points his gun. He listens as the apartment door directly across from his is kicked open. There is nobody in that apartment, having either fled or failed to return. Axel keeps his gun steady as he points it at his door. Every second feels like an hour to him.

Axel hears Harvey just outside his door once again. This time his own door buckles against the force of a body slamming against it. Again his door buckles. It is now or never and Axel fires just as his door buckles yet again. There is a cry of pain from the other side. The door crashes open to reveal an Asian man with wild looking eyes as he brandishes a shotgun. His shirt is bloodied in the center of his chest, just beneath his heart.

Axel fires again, sending Harvey staggering backward so that he falls to the floor halfway into the other apartment. Axel aims carefully once again and fires, hitting him in the stomach. Not wanting to take any chances, Axel is quick to hurry from behind the sofa and over to the door to one side, in case Harvey might have enough strength left to sit up and shoot.

He is half right as Harvey struggles to sit up in the growing pool of blood as he reaches for his shotgun. Axel fires, shooting him through the head,sending a portion of his brain out through the back of his skull, along with blood and bone. Axel breathes a sigh of relief and gets his knapsack to put on.

He carefully leaps over the corpse with its ever growing pool of blood and races down the hallway into an uncertain future.

* * *

In another universe, the pathogen inhabited some other place in Japan and the syndrome it caused was therefore named after that place. And the people involved, except for Takano Miyo, were different.

In another universe, the pathogen inhabited some other place _rather than_ Japan and the syndrome it caused was therefore named after that place. And the people involved were different.

In another universe, the pathogen never existed and everyone lived in Hinamizawa until the company that wanted to set up the dam got its way. Its denizens moved elsewhere and the village was bulldozed and its land sunk beneath an artifical lake.

In another universe, the outbreak occurred back in nineteen eighty-three, but was restricted to Japan and its people got wiped out by it.

In another universe, the outbreak occurred back in nineteen eighty-three and went global because it infected everyone.

In another universe, the outbreak occurred back in nineteen eighty-three and went global, though affecting only people of European heritage.

In another universe, Takano Miyo never lost her parents and grew up to become Japan's ambassador to the United Nations.

In another universe, Hinamizawa and its troubles existed only in a visual novel, manga, and anime.

In another universe, and another, and another, and another, and another . . .

Universes beyond count. Each different in some manner, yet all with one thing in common.

Life goes on.


End file.
